Alan Burrows had only just checked in at Pittodrie to begin his hunt for a new manager when he bumped into Barry Robson.
The interim boss didn’t take long to tell Burrows to call off the search party. After all, the man who would be king had already taken his place on the throne. Aberdeen chief exec Burrows said: “When I met him he said, ‘Oh, here he goes, the guy who is going to appoint the manager. Don’t worry, Jurgen Klopp is in the building.’ I said, ‘Have you locked him in the f***ing cupboard like?’”
It wasn’t a tough decision for Burrows but the due diligence still had to be carried out and the managerial shortlist finalised, which saw discussions held with Chris Wilder and Ricardo Rodriguez in a search that went from the North East to the Far East. A run of seven wins on the spin, transforming Aberdeen from the bottom six to third place helped Robson convince the Pittodrie hierarchy he’s the man to take the club forward. Now over the next two years the only thing Robson will be looking to put in the cupboard is silverware.
Burrows added: “It was only afterwards I realised it was my first interaction with him and I said to director of football Steven Gunn, ‘I hope he took that on board as a bit of banter’ and Steven said, ‘No, don’t worry, he’ll be fine, he’ll take that as a joke.’
“Barry has made no secret of the fact that in the last four of five years he fancied being a manager and he was working towards that.He had other opportunities to be a manager somewhere but didn’t feel it was quite right or at a level he wanted to start at.
“This hasn’t landed in his lap. He’s been planning for this for some period of time and hopefully that is reflected in some of the work he has done early doors.
“Without actually saying, ‘I want the job, hire me’ he didn’t give off the impression he didn’t want it, let’s put it that way.”
The interim boss had strong support within the Aberdeen boardroom and that grew with each passing game. Burrows now believes they have a manager with unique qualities.
He said: “The word I would use is authentic. There is an authenticity about Barry and I like that in a manager. I like somebody who what you see is what you get and they don’t try to be something they’re not.
“You see a lot of jargon in football and Barry has a huge amount of football knowledge but communicates in such a way that people can hopefully resonate with it. He speaks in a language people can understand and get behind.
“I’d never met Barry before but I heard a lot from the people at the club about how highly they rated him. He was in effect a manager in waiting.
“He was forming part of the process so I was intrigued to meet him for the first time. Genuinely, after the first meeting at Cormack Park on the Monday after the Livingston game, I remember spending an hour and a half with him, Steve Agnew and Steven Gunn. I said to Steven after he left, ‘I can see why everyone likes him.’
“Barry took the opportunity from his first meeting with me to put across his philosophy and mentality about how he sees the game and Aberdeen. But right from the get-go I thought, ‘I like this guy.’
“Barry didn’t have to impress me or Steven Gunn, he had to impress everybody. The way the team has responded to him and how he has conducted himself has convinced everyone on the board he is the right man for the job.”
Burrows also believes Robson has shown bravery by appointing two former managers, Agnew and Liam Fox, on his backroom staff.
He said: “He showed a real bit of foresight by surrounding himself with guys who have been involved in the game for a long period of time. Understanding what you’re good at and understanding what you need to work on is a large part of being successful as a manager.
“In my eyes, bringing Steve Agnew in was a large part of Barry understanding that. Steve has worked at the highest level of the game with successful managers at big clubs.
“The appointment of Liam Fox in itself was a masterstroke in a sense as Liam is well respected in Scotland. He has managed at this level and lower levels and has an excellent reputation as a coach.
“If you yourself can’t have the experience of being a manager then I think you absolutely have to surround yourself with people who have and Barry showed a lot of foresight. It was a show of strength straight away.”
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