PLAYERS HAD NOT GIVEN UP ON JIMMY

PETER LEVEN is adamant Jimmy Thelin didn’t lose the dressing room at Aberdeen and has urged the team to get their season back on track by beating Rangers at Ibrox tonight.

- BY SCOTT BURNS

Thelin was sacked 24 hours after Saturday's 1-O defeat to Falkirk extended their winless run to five games.

The result left last season's Scottish Cup winners languishing eighth in the Premiership table.

Thelin claimed a famous victory over Celtic on penalties in the Hampden final in May, but that wasn't enough to keep him ina job after the Dons won just one of their first 11 games this term and just eight so far in total.

Leven has been put in interim charge - just as he was twice in 2024 following the departures of both Barry Robson and Neil Warnock - and Thelin’s former assistant refuted any suggestion that the Pittodrie players had given up on the Swede.

He said: “No, not at all. | don’t think he lost the changing room.

“The boys were still fighting. They were hurting after the game at Falkirk.

“A few players spoke. A few home truths.”