'Emotional' Aberdeen grateful to Jimmy Thelin's biggest trait as major squad update revealed

He and chairman Dave Cormack are heavily invested in the success of the Dons - so to have the calmness of manager Jimmy Thelin at Pittodrie to balance them out is massively important.

The Swede has kept a level head throughout a topsy-turvy season. Thelin’s tenure began with 13 competitive wins in a row before a barren run of one win in 15. Eventually they went on to win the Scottish Cup last weekend against Celtic, ending a 35-year-wait for the trophy. Thelin’s demeanour has barely changed come rain or shine.

“My former chairman once said very poetically in football that one minute you're a peacock, the next you're a feather duster,” said Burrows. “And I suppose the same is true in the opposite way. And that's the nature of football, that's a lesson. You don't get too high and you try not to get too low when things aren't going as well.

“Try to maintain that all the time, particularly when you are working towards a project, when you are bringing someone in on the idea of a three-to-five year plan. You've got to accept that there will be bumps along the way. In modern football now, people aren't prepared to put up with bumps - they just want constant success.

“Hopefully what we've demonstrated through the season was a resoluteness about this project, a resoluteness about this manager and we'll continue to try and back him going into the future.

Why Aberdeen is an ‘emotional’ club

"I think we need him to be calm, because he's one of the few people who are calm, when you take me, the chairman and others - all very emotional! It's an emotional football club because it's got such a rich history, it's got such a big expectation because it's a big city.

“When you've got that, people like Jimmy who are calm in there ensures everyone is on the straight and narrow. He's very, very good. Not only for around about the club, but managing upwards, sideways and downwards. He's a really good guy.”

Burrows expressed admiration at how Thelin managed to keep an equilibrium when others may have become ruffled. "He's done remarkably well,” Burrows continued. “Listen, we were saying when we appointed him, this is a long project. Aberdeen are trying to get away from this churn of managers that we've had over the previous four or five seasons and we were saying to everybody at the start, 'this is going to require patience, this is going to require a bit of time'. And then we got and win 11 games out of 12 and completely blow that up!

“I think what that does is that it takes everybody's expectations up really, really quickly, but we always knew that in the first season - as he was getting used to Scottish football and building his team - that it would take a bit of time and effort. That manifested itself through the middle of the season, but I think the mark of anyone is to try and keep calm, keep doing the things that you are doing, not abandon your principles.

“To me, that's the ultimate credit. He's remained the same guy from day one until yesterday. That's a mark of a really good manager, who can keep on that straight line.”

Meanwhile, Aberdeen have announced that Jack MacKenzie, Ross Doohan, Tom Ritchie and Jamie McGrath will leave at the end of the season, while loanees Kevin Nisbet, Oday Dabbagh, Jeppe Okkels and Alfie Dorrington will return to their parents clubs.