Jimmy Thelin revealed meeting Sir Alex Ferguson at Manchester United helped him get over Aberdeen’s Premier Sports Cup thrashing.
The Dons were brought crashing down to earth as the clinical Celtic hit them for six in the semi-final to end their unbeaten start. Thelin headed to Old Trafford to watch United face Chelsea the following day after Dons chairman Dave Cormack arranged it. Thelin said: “Dave, our chairman, knows Sir Alex really well and Sir Alex invited us. It was actually planned some weeks ago but it was a good to have this focus the day after the game, to clear the head a little bit and then move on.”
October manager of the month Thelin came in for some criticism for not changing his side after the midweek win over Rangers. But he insists his players will need to get used to that sort of schedule because he wants them playing European football. The Swede said: “In the future we can hopefully be so strong that we can compete in Europe and then it’s not going to be a free midweek every week for a long time.
“For us, it’s to try to bring that quality so we can reach a position where we can play in Europe next season. But we still know we have a lot of things to do to grow as a club.”
Meanwhile, Dons star Jack MacKenzie admitted the bus journey home from Hampden last Saturday was a sobering affair. But he is confident the team remains on the right road under Thelin.
Aberdeen remain second top of the Premiership and will look to keep their unbeaten start in the league when Dundee on Saturday night. MacKenzie said: “It was a long journey back up the road because it was a tough one to take.
“There was no getting away from it, Celtic were good on the day but we were not good enough at all. We didn’t impose ourselves on the game and it was 5-0 after an hour, which isn’t acceptable.
“It could have ended up more as well, even though they didn’t have as many shots as they did at Celtic Park a few weeks before. They’re on a great run of form but we’re not focused on Celtic, we’re focused on ourselves and it’s now up to us to get better.”
It might have been a video nasty but MacKenzie knows the importance of watching a re-run of the game to see where they went wrong. Scotland squad star MacKenzie said: “It’s important to watch it back because if you don’t, it can happen again.
“So we watched it. We looked at the clips of where we should have done better. It’s good to see that because you can learn.
“Obviously we didn’t watch it back too soon as it could still have been too raw, but by Tuesday it was time to sit down, work out where we went wrong and how we can improve. It was obviously a tough weekend but there’s no way we were going to be feeling sorry for ourselves.”
Aberdeen can’t afford to with the visit of Dundee, who they beat at Dens Park earlier in the season. The defender claimed: “It has been pretty impressive in the league and we want to get going again. We want to keep our good run in the league going.”
MacKenzie is out of contract in the summer and admitted he will soon have to make a decision on his Pittodrie future. The Dons are in talks with the academy graduate yo extend his stay.
But the 24-year-old left-back said: “To be honest, there is not too much to report at the moment because I have been trying my best to focus on the football.
“We’ve had a lot of massive games and the Scotland call-up as well. It has all been going on. It is something I will need to think about shortly.
“I do love the club. I have really enjoyed it here and I am still enjoying it.”
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