Aberdeen will not have a new manager appointed in time for this weekend's Premiership game against Ross County.
Alan Burrows has revealed that the club's ambition of employing a new full time gaffer during the international break has fallen through.
The Pittodrie side initially said that the two week period that has just past since the last set of domestic fixtures was when they ideally wanted to get their new man in place.
Neil Warnock left the club after guiding the Dons to a 3-1 victory over Kilmarnock in the Scottish Cup earlier this month, leaving Peter Leven in interim charge of first-team matters.
Chief Executive Alan Burrows spoke to RedTV to give an update on our search for a new manager.
— Aberdeen FC (@AberdeenFC) March 28, 2024
Watch in full on the AFC YouTube channel now ⤵️
CEO Burrows insists Aberdeen must get this decision right rather than rushing into another appointment, something they've been accused of doing with Stephen Glass and Jim Goodwin since Derek McInnes' departure over three years ago.
The Pittodrie chief issued an update to frustrated fans on the club’s TV channel ahead of a return to Premiership action on Saturday.
“The search for a new manager is ongoing," he said. "I’d like to think it’s now entering the very final stages. We said previously we hoped to appoint a manager during the international break.
"It looks unlikely unfortunately that will happen during the international break but what I will say and want to reemphasise is that’s absolutely important we get this appointment right rather than quick.
“And while the process has gone on longer than anyone would have hoped or anticipated, the key focus for us to ensure the accuracy of the appointment is right in the long term for Aberdeen Football Club.
"Rather than panicking just to get us through a timescale, it’s important to get it right but hopefully the process isn’t going to take too much longer now.
“At the time we said that (that it was close) we had that expectation but the reality is that during this process things happen all the time - sometimes you expect and sometimes you don’t expect - and you have to react to that. And that’s what we’ve had to do.
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"We’ve had to ensure that we didn’t lose focus on what’s important which is getting the right appointment for Aberdeen and we also had to ensure we didn’t lessen ourselves because of time pressure.
"But at the time we said that and went public with that, it was on the back of Neil leaving the club and we thought at that particular time that things were ready to finalise.
"As these things always do, some things come along you need to react to and we’re still there at that particular point but we’re still hopeful the person we’ve earmarked and identified is someone we can appoint to he Aberdeen manager role very, very soon.”
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