Aberdeen make Barry Robson decision in bid to beat Hearts and Hibs in race for Europe

Aberdeen have confirmed that Barry Robson will continue as head coach until the end of the season “initially” after an impressive period in interim charge.

The 44-year-old former Scotland midfielder has won four and lost two of his games in charge, a run of results which has moved the Dons back up the Scottish Premiership table and into a fight for third place along with Hearts and and Hibs. The Dons are currently fourth, one point and one place above Hibs and only four points behind Hearts.

Robson stepped into the role at the end of January when Jim Goodwin was sacked after a 6-0 demolition away to Hibs at Easter Road. With the help of assistant Steve Agnew, Robson has turned things round. Aberdeen chairman Dave Cormack has revealed that Robson was one of three candidates interviewed for the job, but said the board “unanimously agreed” for him to continue in the role.

“The club embarked on a clear and patient process where director of football, Steven Gunn, led the vetting of all inbound applications as well as managing an outbound search, teaming up with an external agency, to unearth candidates that matched our criteria,” Cormack said. “Once the potential manager pool was down to six candidates, Steven and chief executive Alan Burrows, together with non-executive directors Willie Garner and Stewart Milne, conducted interviews. Three candidates, including Barry, met with this group in person for further, in-depth discussions over the last week.

Barry Robson has been confirmed as Aberdeen manager until the end of the season “initially”. Picture: Alan Harvey / SNS

“The board subsequently met to debate the outcomes of these interviews and discussions. It was unanimously agreed that Barry should continue in his role initially through to the end of the season.”

Aberdeen are in hot pursuit of Hearts, who they defeated 3-0 at Pittodrie last time out and Cormack added: “We believe that continuing the momentum, high standards and energy that Barry has instilled in the squad, with only nine league games to go is critical to the club achieving its goal of European football next season.”

Robson said he and Agnew, who himself has experience as caretaker with Middlesbrough and Sheffield Wednesday, feel honoured to be given the chance "to demonstrate our ability to lead the team in the longer term".

He added: “We have had a tremendous reaction from the players and they deserve a huge amount of credit for the way they have bought into the things we have asked them to do.”