Jimmy Thelin brought Aberdeen calm when needed most as Alan Burrows offers honest assessment of Swede
The former Elfsborg boss guided the Dons to their first Scottish Cup triumph in 35 years by beating Celtic at Hampden last week
Alan Burrows reckons Jimmy Thelin hasn't just delivered silverware – he's brought a sense of calm to Aberdeen when they needed it most.
The Swede sealed his place in Dons history at the weekend by leading them to victory over Celtic at Hampden – ending an 11-year wait for a trophy and landing their first Scottish Cup in 35 years.
Thelin let his emotions really show for arguably the first time since the season began, soaking up the jubilant scenes across the Granite City.
Aberdeen chief executive Burrows said: '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 club because it's got such a rich history, and such big expectation because it's a big city. When you've got that, people like Jimmy – who are calm in there – ensure everyone is on the straight and narrow.
'He's very, very good. Not only for around the club, but managing upwards, sideways and downwards. He's a really good guy.'
Thelin was headhunted from Elfsborg by Dons chairman Dave Cormack, who refused to take 'no' for an answer from the Swedes.
The club chief wanted to get away from the regular turnover of managers and insisted that his new boss would be given time and it was a long-term project.
Burrows said: 'He's done remarkably well. 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, it's going to require a bit of time'.
'Then we go and win 11 games out of 12 and completely blew that up!
'That 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 the mark of anyone is to try and keep calm, keep doing the things you're doing, not abandon your principles. That's the ultimate credit.
'He's remained the same guy from day one. That's a mark of a really good manager, who can keep on that straight line.'
Cormack has vowed to back Thelin again, with the majority of the riches from their European campaign.
Burrows said: 'It's crazy. John Boyle once said, very poetically, 'in football one minute you're a peacock, the next you're a feather duster'. Don't get too high and try not to get too low.
'Hopefully, what we've demonstrated through the course of this season was a resoluteness about this project, about this manager and we'll continue to try and back him.'
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