Stephen Robinson says he will keep fighting until somebody tells him otherwise. After Saturday's 4-0 home defeat by Hibernian, a side who went into the game bottom of the Scottish Premiership, that may not be a long wait. Aberdeen supporters began leaving at 2-0, and those who stayed spent the closing stages telling the manager he was getting sacked in the morning.
Robinson had called the fixture a must-win. His players did not perform as though they agreed. "The performance isn't acceptable, the result isn't acceptable," he said afterwards. "It's the story of the season — if you don't take chances, you lose matches. They had five opportunities, scored four of them. That's the difference."
A fourth defeat in five and a slide down the table
Aberdeen now sit in the relegation play-off place, above only Kilmarnock. They have lost four consecutive games in all competitions, four of their last five in the league, and have scored three league goals at Pittodrie in their past six home outings — all three of them in a single win over St Mirren. Twelve goals in total makes them the joint lowest scorers in the division, level with the Buddies.
Appointed in March, Robinson has won six of 21 league games and lost eleven. He steadied the club last season and kept them clear of trouble. This season the trapdoor has reappeared early, and a cup final place was lost along the way.
The recruitment question nobody at Pittodrie can dodge
Aberdeen legend Willie Miller, speaking on BBC Sportsound, described Robinson as looking beleaguered, a man lost, and called the performance utterly embarrassing. His sharper point was about the squad rather than the manager. Fifteen players were signed in the summer. Few have made any impression.
"Recruitment is vital and when you look at the performances, the recruitment is poor," Miller said. "The players aren't up to scratch, not up to playing at this level and dealing with high-ish expectations. I'm not talking about trophies, I'm talking about being in the top six and they're nowhere near that. There's major issues that have to be confronted."
That lands on Adrian Bevington, the chief executive appointed in September and barely six weeks into the job when the television cameras found him in the stand on Saturday. Should Aberdeen move on from Robinson, it would be their sixth managerial change since Derek McInnes left in 2021, which is the statistic that makes this bigger than one manager.
A style the Pittodrie crowd never warmed to
Former Scotland midfielder Michael Stewart told Premier Sports it could now be curtains, and that sometimes the nature of a result pushes a situation past the point of no return. Alan Hutton noted the players appeared to give up late on, with Hibernian scoring twice in the final six minutes, and said he sees no identity and no clear plan from Aberdeen this season.
Charlie Mulgrew, who played for the club, was blunter about the fit. "His style with his St Mirren team, it's not what the fans at Pittodrie like to see on the pitch. They tried to go with wingers today but there was no end product, they huffed and puffed." Chris Sutton suggested Robinson should walk away but expected him to be sacked instead.
Robinson earned the move north on the back of three successive top-six finishes and a League Cup win at St Mirren, and he was not a popular appointment with everyone even then. The international break gives Aberdeen's board a fortnight to decide whether the fault sits with the man in the dugout or with the people who built him a squad he cannot win with.
Club context: Stephen Robinson, 51, was appointed Aberdeen head coach in March and has won six of 21 league games. Aberdeen are in the Scottish Premiership relegation play-off place after a 4-0 home defeat by Hibernian, their fourth straight loss in all competitions. Fifteen players were signed in the summer.
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