Aberdeen FC this morning confirms the appointment of Stephen Robinson as its new Head Coach.

Stephen, 51, joins from St Mirren alongside assistant Brian Kerr on contracts until the summer of 2029.

“We are pleased to welcome Stephen and Brian to Pittodrie”, said Dons Chairman Dave Cormack.

“Stephen is a proven leader with a strong track record of overachieving at Motherwell and St. Mirren, where he delivered three Cup Finals, including winning the Scottish League Cup this season, multiple top six league finishes, including a third place and qualifying for Europe twice.

“He has demonstrated he can consistently deliver strong results, punching well above the resources he’s had to work with, during the last eight years in Scottish football and proven he can build resilient, competitive teams with solid foundations.

“There is a strong desire to re-establish a clear identity for our club, to become harder to play against and restore competitiveness in our matches. For those reasons we believe Stephen is the right Head Coach to deliver exactly that.

“He has also developed a number of young players at previous clubs which fits with our overarching ambition to be the best developer of young talent. Solidifying that pathway for our young players will be vital to his success here at Aberdeen.

“Nobody within the football club would dispute that performances and results this season have been unacceptable and well below that of what is expected here at Aberdeen. However, during these testing periods comes an opportunity to sharpen focus and re-evaluate where changes are required and given recent results, we recognised the need to make the permanent appointment quickly.”

The experienced Northern Irishman has more than 400 professional matches in management.

During his time in Scotland with Motherwell, he led the club to a third-place finish in the Premiership, qualification for the Europa League qualifiers, and two domestic Cup Finals.

He also enhanced the club’s trading model with several future Scottish internationals from the youth academy, together with players recruited, going on to earn big money moves to England.

That trajectory continued in Paisley, where he led Saints to a top six finish in 2022/23 – their first in 36 years – and has since repeated that achievement in subsequent seasons, establishing St Mirren as one of the most competitive sides outside the traditional top clubs and returning them to European football in the Conference League qualifiers.

And this season, they also secured a famous League Cup victory over Celtic, Saints’ second trophy since 1987, and only last weekend booked a return to Hampden in the Scottish Cup semi-finals.

A consistent theme of his work at St Mirren Park has again been player development with several players recruited or blooded, given opportunities and moved on for significant fees, reinforcing his reputation for building and enhancing competitive teams.

Earlier in his career he also managed in England with Oldham Athletic and later with Morecambe in League One before returning to Scotland to take the St Mirren role.

Commenting on his move to the North-east, Stephen said:

“When this opportunity arose, there was no way I could turn it down.

“Aberdeen has a tremendous history and there’s no mistaking it is a huge Club. The facilities and resources that will be at my disposal are excellent and more importantly, the fan base is tremendous so I’m excited to work for a Club of this size and strive to take it forward.

“I appreciate it has been a tough period for everyone, but players respond to positivity so we’ve got to stick together going forward.

“We will put a team out on the pitch to get the points we need to finish this season as strongly as we can.

“Aberdeen have clear ambition but it needs an identity, it needs direction and I aim to give the club that so we need everyone to get behind myself, the staff and the players.”

AFC Sporting Director, Lutz Pfannenstiel, said: “Results have clearly not been what we had hoped for or expected in recent weeks.

“The Board and I recognised we needed a new Head Coach in position sooner rather than later and Stephen, who was part of this process from the outset, was the clear candidate to take on the role now.

“He is a highly experienced coach with a strong track record of delivering results in this league and we believe he will bring stability in the short term whilst also providing the vision to build success for this club in the future.”