Even with the club rooted to the bottom of the league table, without a win or even a goal across their opening three matches, Aberdeen continue to back Jimmy Thelin.
They continue to invest in a manager who has won only five league games since last November. To crunch the numbers and be a little more precise, that’s five wins in the last 31 league games.
Relegation form in other words. While nobody can ever take away the Scottish Cup win against Celtic last season, that honeymoon can’t last forever.
Despite being backed with one of the biggest budgets in the club’s history, Thelin has yet to prove he’s the right man to lead Aberdeen forward in the long term.
This is now very much his squad. Since taking charge just over a year ago, he has spent a fair wedge of the £6.8million that was banked from the sale of Bojan Miovski.
Topi Keskinen was signed for £850,000 last summer. There was £500,000 for Kenan Bilalovic, £400,000 for Nicolas Milanovic, £750,000 for Kristers Tobers, and £500,000 for Alexander Jensen.
Jimmy Thelin’s side have failed to win their first three Premiership games this season
Kyrell Wilson’s goal for newly promoted Falkirk condemned the Dons to defeat last Sunday
Topi Keskinen, who joined Aberdeen for £850,000 last summer, fails to get to grips with Falkirk’s Henry Cartwright
Another £300,000 was forked out to sign Kevin Nisbet on deadline day, with a chunky wage packet also required to sign Swedish international winger Jesper Karlsson on loan from Bologna.
In terms of transfers fees and wages, Thelin has been lavishly funded but is not delivering results. The Scottish Cup win was great but the bread and butter of Aberdeen’s league form is becoming a huge concern.
The Dons lost their opening two league games against Hearts and Celtic, but it was the home defeat to Falkirk last weekend which should really set alarm bells ringing.
Thelin will go down as a club legend because of that victory over Celtic at Hampden at the end of last season, but time is running out for him to get Aberdeen moving forward in the league.
If they don’t sort things out and bounce back quickly after the international break, Aberdeen might find themselves forking out more money for Thelin. A pay-off.
