Can Neil Warnock work his magic with Aberdeen in Scottish Premiership?

Aberdeen have announced the appointment of Neil Warnock as their new interim manager, with the Dons in danger of being dragged into a relegation battle.

The 75-year-old will take charge at Pittodrie until the end of the season, when they expect to appoint a new boss for the 2024/25 campaign.

This will be the first time that Warnock will manage outside of English football, but will his expertise and know-how be as productive in the Scottish Premiership?

Punters who backed Neil Warnock to manage a Scottish top flight club in 2024 at 16/1 in our New Year's Specials will be overjoyed by the latest developments at Pittodrie...

Dons on the slide

It’s been 39 years since Aberdeen last won the Scottish Premiership title and although the Glasgow domination has always been hard to break, the Pittodrie fans have been starved of success.

Under Sir Alex Ferguson in the 1980s, the Dons lifted the European Cup Winners’ Cup and the UEFA Super Cup, alongside three league titles.

Since 1990, Aberdeen have won just one piece of silverware – the 2013/14 Scottish League Cup – and have had three different managers in the last three years.

Barry Robson was the latest to try and turn their fortunes around, but he left the role with the Dons sat eighth and just six points outside of the bottom two.

Even though they finished 42 points behind champions Celtic, a third-place finish in the 2022/23 season seemingly gave them a foundation that they hoped they could build on.

But under Robson, they won just six of their 22 league games and now face the possibility of falling out of the top flight for the first time since they were elected way back in 1905.

Warnock knows how to get results

Aberdeen will become the 18th different club that Warnock has managed, with his most recent stint at Huddersfield coming to an end earlier in the season.

His departure came though after he was able to help keep them in the Championship in the 2022/23 campaign, when they had looked doomed to relegation.

Warnock joined the Terriers for a second spell with just 15 games remaining, with the West Yorkshire club seven points adrift of safety in March.

A 1-0 win over another of his former clubs, Sheffield United, saw Huddersfield complete the great escape with a game to spare.

It’s not just fighting relegation though that Warnock has achieved managerial success at, with the Yorkshireman having also won promotion to the English top flight with four different clubs – Notts County, Sheffield United, QPR and Cardiff.

Overall, he has collected eight promotions during his 44 years in management and has taken charge of over 2,000 matches – the most of any manager in English professional football.

Ibrox provides Warnock with his first Scottish test

The 75-year-old will be joined by his assistant Ronnie Jepson at Pittodrie, while first-team coach Peter Leven will remain in his role.

As first games go in Scotland, it doesn’t get much tougher than a trip to Rangers, but that’s the task awaiting Warnock.

The Dons travel to Ibrox on Tuesday evening and are available at 9/1 to collect the three points, with second-placed Rangers 1/4 and the draw 5/1.

Warnock insists he is “really looking forward to the challenge” and says this “felt like the right opportunity” to return to management.

The veteran manager claims he has always wanted to manage in Scotland and hopes he can “put a smile on the faces” of the Aberdeen fans.

The Dons are still in the Scottish Cup and will play host to League Two Bonnyrigg Rose in the fifth round later this month. Aberdeen are 8/1 to lift the trophy at Hampden Park on 25th May.