What the Aberdeen FC dressing room think about Jimmy Thelin as Jack Milne targets next step

Jack Milne believes Jimmy Thelin can help Aberdeen push on from last season’s strong finish.

The defender is set to line up in Wiener Neustadt tonight as Scotland’s Under-21s face Austria in a friendly. Milne, 21, played for Aberdeen against Eintracht Frankfurt and HJK Helsinki in Europe last term. And on the domestic front, he also buried a spot-kick in the dramatic Scottish Cup semi-final shoot-out defeat to Celtic at Hampden.

Although the Pittodrie side endured a dismal league campaign in which they went through managers Barry Robson and Neil Warnock, caretaker Peter Leven got a strong reaction as the Dons won four of their five games in the bottom half of the split. Thelin has left Elfsborg and is on a short break before he officially gets to work at Cormack Park.

The Swede brings with him a reputation as a manager who insists upon his side using a pressing game and Milne would love to be a part of Thelin’s Reds revolution. He said: “It’s always exciting getting a new manager. We’ve all heard great things. I haven’t met him yet, I don’t think any of the boys have.

“But we are all looking forward to working with him. At the end of last season, you saw the quality we have. It’s always been there, we just weren’t getting it right. Then we went on a wee run at the end of the season.

“Even the Celtic game at Hampden, although we lost we showed so much quality. If we can do that consistently, we can be where we want to be. You look at the teams we played in Europe – we beat Eintracht Frankfurt and went toe to toe with PAOK and HJK Helsinki too.

“There were no games there where we were outplayed. It was just the league where we lacked consistency. Coming through the academy, we were always trying to press up the pitch, pretty much man for man.

“That’s what I’ve grown up with, so I would say it suits my game. We are back training on June 24 and then straight into the League Cup. We will want to win all the group games. We reached the final last year and hope to do it again.”

Milne came on as a sub for Scot Gemmill’s side in Monday’s defeat to Turkey and has enjoyed working with the squad during their summer camp. He added: “It was a late call-up but luckily I didn’t have any holidays booked. I’ve loved the week.

“I was a bit nervous coming into it. We were unlucky against Turkey but it was great to be involved. When you come here, a lot of the boys are very good technically and tactically. There is so much ability.” Gemmill will be without Tommy Conway after his call-up to the senior squad, and Dundee’s Michael Mellon.