Expectation among the Aberdeen support is growing wilder and Wilder with some of the names linked to the vacant Pittodrie hotseat.
It’s three-and-a-bit days since Jim Goodwin ended his spell in charge with speculation rife about his successor. In the interim, the Pittodrie board have put Barry Robson in charge and have brought in experienced English coach Steve Agnew and Scott Anderson.
The move should allow the directors a bit of stability and time to get the right appointment after two failed gaffers. Stephen Glass and Goodwin have both been axed within the past year after rotten runs in charge and the under-fire Reds board know the next boss has to be the right one. Here, Record Sport looks at some of the potential runners and riders who have already started to catch the eye of the Red Army.
Chris Wilder
Record Sport’s story on Sunday night that the former Sheffield United boss would be interested in talking to Aberdeen has caught the imagination of a lot of fans.
Even if Aberdeen were to make an approach then it still remains to be seen if they could match his financial ambitions or give him the tools he feels he would need to get the team competition at the top of the Scottish game again. The 55-year-old has been out of the game since he was fired by Middlesbrough at the end of last year. He had been in charge for just 11 months but a power struggle behind the scenes of the English Championship club didn’t help.
Wilder is certainly experienced and has worked his way up the levels. He started off at Alfreton Town and went on to Halifax, Oxford United and Northampton Town. He really made his name when he went back to his first senior club and boyhood heroes Sheffield United.
He spent five seasons at Bramall Lane and took them from League One to the Premier League with an inventive brand of football, including overlapping central defenders. He led them to two promotions in three years. The fairytale rise to the top-flight, however, quickly turned into a nightmare. United were left at the bottom of the Premier League and he left the club by mutual consent in March 2021. He was appointed Middlesbrough manager in November 2021.
Tam Courts
He has already successfully cut his managerial teeth further down the A90 with Dundee United. The 41-year-old was a controversial appointment when he was named as Micky Mellon’s successor in June 2021.
Courts had previously been the manager of junior club Kelty Hearts before he moved to United to take up a post as head of tactical performance at Tannadice. Courts had stepped in when Mellon had been isolating with Covid but was given the nod at the end of that campaign. But the former defender then stepped up and led the Tangerines first into the top six and then into Europe after a 10-year hiatus.
A level that Aberdeen want to get back to on a regular basis. Courts is highly thought of as a coach and as a tactician. He surprisingly left United last summer after his first full season and was a target for Croatians Rijeka but Honved sealed a deal. The Fifer only lasted a few months because he was uneasy with a number of things in Hungarian football, including racial flashpoints.
Marti Cifuentes
The Spaniard is a left-field option that has been mentioned a lot by fans on social media. The 40-year-old is gaffer of Swedish side Hammarby, who he led to third in the league in his first full season.
Cifuentes is no stranger to the British game as he spent time at the coaching academy of Millwall while also having a spell at Ajax. He returned home in the Spanish lower leagues Rubi, Sant Andreu and Hospitalet before he went to Sweden to become the head up AIK’s youth team and academy.
Norwegian side Sandefjord gave him a top team return. It started with relegation but they kept faith and he took them back to the Eliteserien before he moved to AaB. Cifuentes – also linked with QPR – took over Hammarby this time last year.
Danny Cowley
Another experienced manager who has earned his stripes and worked his way up the English pyramid. The 44-year-old has previously been on Aberdeen’s radar.
He was one of the candidates who were interviewed before Stephen Glass got the job. Cowley had to pull out of the process because he had agreed to take the Portsmouth job back in 2021. Cowley made his playing career in England’s non-leagues and that was where he got his first crack at management. Started off at Concord Rangers and then moved on to Braintree Town.
He moved on to Lincoln City, who had also fallen into the National League and led the Imps back into the league and then up to League One. That saw him get his chance in the Championship with Huddersfield Town but he lasted less than a year with the club stating they had a different vision.
Cowley was charged with getting Portsmouth out of League One but almost two years on he left Pompey in January this year.
Nick Montgomery
The former Scottish Under-21 international is currently making a name for himself in the Australian A-League.
His Central Coast Mariners side currently sit second despite having one of the lowest budgets in the league. Montgomery played most of his football in England with Sheffield United before he moved down under in 2012 to bring down the curtain on his career with Central Coast Mariners.
He was appointed their assistant manager and stepped up to the main job in 2021. Montgomery, who actually had family who stayed in Aberdeen, led the Mariners into the play-offs in his first season, with a team that included Mark Birighitti, Key Rowles and Lewis Miller. He also signed Jason Cummings from Dundee and he ended up being their top scorer. Cummings went on to better that by booking his place in the Australia’s World Cup squad.
He was joined by Socceroo sensation and current Hearts loanee Gaurang Kuol, who Montgomery brought through at Central Coast.
Geir Bakke
Lillestrom coach Bakke was linked with Aberdeen job before Jim Goodwin even left. the post. The 53-year-old has been in charge of Skjetten, Moss, Kristiansund, Sarpsborg and has been a Lillestrom since 2019. He led them back to the Eliteserien and in his time has twice been runner-up in Norwegian Cup.
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