Barry Robson praises Liam Fox as ex-Dundee United boss joins Aberdeen as coach

Barry Robson believes Liam Fox will bring invaluable expertise to Aberdeen’s backroom staff after the former Dundee United manager was appointed first-team coach.

Robson was named Dons boss earlier this week until the end of the season and one of the first things he did was invite the 39-year-old Fox – who was sacked by United at the end of February – to work alongside him and assistant Steve Agnew at Pittodrie.

“Our paths haven’t crossed but I was on a course at one time and I watched him coach,” Robson said after Fox’s role – also until the end of the season -was confirmed by Aberdeen on Friday. “He never knew I saw him coach but I liked his manner.

“I liked the way he was with players, I liked his drive and enthusiasm. I’ve spoken to a lot of people in the game who regard him highly on the coaching side.

“He’s been a manager at a big club. I like that he’s been in management and knows what it’s like and knows all the intricacies and difficulties.

“He’s also been a development coach working with younger players and at this club, from age 18 to the first team, it needs someone who’s got all these experiences. There’s no better person for me to fill that void.

“He’ll be with the first team but he’ll also be trying to get these young fit, fresh players into our team. He’ll be a bit of a link but a big part of his role will be to work as a first-team coach under myself and Steve.

“I’m big on coaches being good on the grass. We do a lot of analysis but coaching on the grass is where you make football players better and Liam’s definitely one of them, alongside Steve as well.”

Robson was handed the manager’s job this week after an impressive run of four wins from six games while interim boss in the wake of Jim Goodwin’s sacking at the end of January.

The 44-year-old was in no mood to speculate about how things may evolve in the longer term, stating that he “had not thought about” whether he might be staying on beyond the end of the season. He insists his full focus is on getting a cinch Premiership victory away to St Johnstone on Saturday.

“It gives us a bit more focus, I suppose, and lets us get our heads down to try and win some more games before the end of the season,” he said of this week’s confirmation about his own future.

“We’re pleased that we’ll be here until the end of the season and that we can really focus on working towards finishing as high up the league as we can.

“The biggest thing for me is tomorrow and trying to win the game. As I’ve said to the players, we’ve not achieved anything. We’ve got ourselves into a bit of a better position but the message is clear: we get our heads down, we work and we try and win games for the football club.”