Yahoo News Peter Leven to remain in 'regular contact' with new Aberdeen boss Jimmy Thelin
Aberdeen caretaker Peter Leven revealed that incoming manager Jimmy Thelin will be kept firmly up to date with events at Pittodrie between now and the end of the season.
It was confirmed on Tuesday that the 46-year-old Elfsborg boss will arrive in Scotland to take charge of the Dons in early June.
Thelin will also bring bring assistants Christer Persson and Emir Bajrami with him, while Leven will become part of his backroom staff as assistant first-team coach.
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The Scot has already spoken with the Swede and the pair are set to remain in “regular contact” in the coming months.
“It’s good news,” said Leven, speaking at a media briefing on Wednesday. “We broke it to the boys yesterday, they’re happy, the fans are happy, so it’s good news all round.
“I had a brief chat with him last night on the phone, that was the first contact I had with him.
“I welcomed him to the club and said I was looking forward to working with him and we said we’ll be in regular contact between now and the end of the season.
“We’ve got to obviously respect Elfsborg because he’s still the manager there but I said whatever you need, training videos, a bit of insight about players and stuff, we’ll be in regular contact.”
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Aberdeen are set to play out the remainder of a grim cinch Premiership campaign in the bottom six but Leven has welcomed the “clarity” of having a new permanent manager lined up two and a half months after the departure of Barry Robson and more than a month after Neil Warnock cut short his ill-fated stint as caretaker.
“The fans needed to know and obviously the players as well,” said Leven. “For those in contract and coming out of contract, I think clarity is the right word.
“They know who is watching them now, whether it’s to do with contracts or staying at the club or whatever, they know they’ve got a manager coming in. Hopefully that will lift everybody.”
Leven, who has previously coached in Belarus and Russia, is delighted to be remaining part of the Dons’ first-team set-up going forward and has no concerns about fitting into Thelin’s backroom team.
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“It’s exciting,” he said. “I’ve done it in the past when I went abroad so it’s nothing new to me.
“I’ve worked abroad for four years in two different countries, so I’m used to adapting to different ways of working.”
As he prepares Aberdeen for a Scottish Cup semi-final against Celtic on Saturday, Leven is adamant that Thelin will not be taking over a dysfunctional squad.
“There’s talent there,” he stressed. “If they can win on Saturday, that will be two cup finals this season so he’s inheriting a talented group.
“He’ll obviously have an eye on the games coming up and obviously I’ll be in regular contact with him myself.”
