Jimmy Thelin spoke to the media for the first time this afternoon since officially starting work as manager of Aberdeen FC. The manager sat down with the press after the players completed day two of pre-season training. RedTV subscribers can watch the media conference in full through the video above.

“It was good to have the first training session today and to see all of the players in action. Now we are looking forward. First of all we have to get to know the players as human beings and then we have our strengths in the squad and the game model. We have to have respect for the challenges and adapt and learn things. We have to look but also be strong with what we want to do. We are really confident with that. We want to build the project in this three years. Step by step we try to improve things and try to be solid and have this hard working mentality. That is the first steps.

“From day one we are working to create this base, what culture we want to have in the team and in the training sessions. How we want to play, that you can recognise the team every week that is consistent. From there you have to improve all of the time. Myself and my staff put the levels of the standards of how we train and how we play, setting a base. Then we want to improve the team how we play, together as a team the collective way. Also, hopefully we can make individual players grow and that is going to give us challenges on the way but we will see a clear step by step progress to get better and better as a team. The future, we don’t know about that but I can promise hard work.

“I always believe in strong team spirit, no one is bigger than the club and we are here for one reason, to work hard for Aberdeen FC. For me it is quite straight forward, I want my teams to be strong when attacking, try to create as many scoring chances as possible. For me you have to see the defence is there, how they fight to defend the goal, how they fight to have a clean sheet but still be progressive in how we play and try to achieve in the other direction. Intense, clear direction against the goal. Hopefully we can get this in motion. With the fans in the stand we can do it together.

“I am looking at the next three years. We have to start there. When you are at a big club you have the expectations, everybody knows that already. For me it is about taking it step by step. You have to aim high but we need to look at the long term. We need to grow as a team and be stable, season by season. That’s the most important thing, to be there and to challenge for the top six and adding more to that. We have to start from day one to work hard and to achieve more.

“Aberdeen is a one club city. It has a big history. We can’t be responsible for the history, we have to embrace it, we have to live it. We have to use it in a positive way. We have to build something together to create a story for the future. The work starts today to bring success in the future. It starts from day one. We can’t wait. We have to work hard with the recruitment and work hard with the development. We have to trust the players that we have. We have to give everything as a staff. Myself, Dave (Cormack), Steven (Gunn) and Alan (Burrows) all have a clear picture on how we keep moving forward. We still need time and the support. We need to work hard and take the steps. It doesn’t happen overnight, it’s impossible. In football the next game is the most important one. You are always going to have this pressure. It is not a bad thing. Everybody who works in this business knows that. This culture and passion, the fans travel all across the country, they buy season tickets. That is a good pressure, there is nothing bad with that and you get the responsibility. You have to take that and the only thing you can do is give everything that you have, you can’t do anything more than that. If you do it well during a long period, usually you come out the other side with something good. That is what we have to aim for, step by step.

“I am used to transfer windows and as long as the window is open (anything can happen). It is what it is, that is football. For now some players are still off due to international duty and will report at our camp in Portugal. Bojan is one of these players. For now he is an Aberdeen player and that is what we focus on but I know the window is the window.”