DAVE CORMACK has handed Barry Robson his full backing – and appealed for Aberdeen’s fans to do the same.
The Pittodrie chief addressed shareholders at their AGM, pointing out his current gaffer is statistically the second most winning boss in their history.
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Robson had been under fire for a string of bad results and being in the bottom six – but beating Hearts last weekend bought him breathing space.
And as they build up to Thursday’s Conference League clash with Eintracht Frankfurt then Sunday’s Viaplay Cup final with Rangers, Cormack has called for fans to give their boss a break.
He said: “Including Barry we all agree that our league form has not been good enough.
“As with every manager we employ, Barry will be judged on results over the coming weeks, months and as we sincerely hope, seasons.
“In the cold light of day Barry absolutely earned the right to become our manager, especially when the highly-experienced Steve Angew agreed to come in as his assistant.
“We have to remember Barry single-handedly won third place in the league last season, earning two Manager of the Month awards and European group stage football for the first time in fifteen seasons.
“Since Aberdeen last won the Scottish Cup in 1990, we have had 13 permanent managers.
“Where does Barry rank in terms of percentage of games won? With 13 wins in 30 games, including a recent record that Barry himself, and all of us, is not happy with, he sits in SECOND place with a 43.3% win rate.
“We all know our league form needs to improve but lets all get behind Barry and the boys for the cup final on Sunday.”
Aberdeen’s record after playing in the Conference League has blighted their season and Cormack admits the Dons have struggled to cope with the schedule.
He said: “Playing Thursdays and Sundays, and significant groups of players being away on international duty, there’s no doubt in my mind it has taken its toll against teams playing once a week.
“Having said that Barry and the team have reached the League Cup final this weekend, our first final in five seasons.
Fine’s snow funny
ABERDEEN chief executive Alan Burrows has revealed the Dons are subject of MORE Uefa disciplinary proceedings.
This time though, the case is unprecedented.
The Dons were previously fined for fans’ fireworks in their Europa Conference campaign.
But European football’s governing body are investigating the SNOWBALLS thrown onto the pitch during the match with Helsinki.
Speaking to shareholders at the club’s AGM, Burrows said: “We have not been charged but Uefa have opened a disciplinary case.
“Will we be fined? I don’t know.
“There is a standard protocol with Uefa for pyro but I don’t know where on the sliding scale snowballs sit.
“We will see what it brings.”
“Between the Frankfurt game on Thursday, the cup final on Sunday and the next five league games we will be asked to play seven times in twenty days.
“I believe there continues to be a strong and growing relationship between the club and supporters.
“Yes, frustration over recent form is understandable, we have all been frustrated too.
“But those of us who witnessed the performance in the second half against Hearts last weekend, driven by the fans and the Red Shed leading the way, demonstrated it’s not only the love we all have for the club.
“But the players are committed to the cause and the dressing-room is fully united behind Barry and his coaching staff.”
Cormack also rounded on the SPFL for not handing the Dons a 50-50 allocation split for Sunday’s Hampden clash with the Gers.
When a shareholder branded the decision to hand Rangers more briefs a DISGRACE, he shot back: “I agree.
“We thought it was fair and reasonable for us to be given a couple of weeks to sell the tickets.
“But they came back and said no, that was not the case.
“We fought our corner left, right and centre because we felt we could sell the allocation of 22,500.
“We got 19,500 in the end and I think they shot themselves in the foot because when people talk about conspiracy in Scottish football that just perpetrates it when you don’t give a team a couple of weeks to sell tickets and sell them out.
“They cited the 13,000 we sold for the semi but we explained we’d had seven out of eight games away around that time, including European away games.
“We explained to them we have a strong, strong history – go back to the 2014 final at Celtic park and the 43,000 that were there.
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“We certainly made our feelings felt strongly and hopefully they’ve learned a lesson.”
Cormack also admitted he’s changed his mind on VAR and would now scrap video refereeing.
He said: “I was a supporter of it but now I would bin it, the inconsistency is unacceptable.”