'We’re ready': Aberdeen boss Jimmy Thelin relishing start of Premiership campaign

Jimmy Thelin is confident his Aberdeen side are ready for the season ahead as he prepares for his first William Hill Premiership match on Monday evening.

The Dons face St Johnstone at McDiarmid Park fresh from winning all four of their Premier Sports Cup group fixtures under their recently-installed Swedish manager.

Despite ongoing speculation about talismanic forward Bojan Miovski’s future and the blow of losing midfielders Dante Polvara and Leighton Clarkson to injuries, Thelin is relishing the onset of the new campaign.

“It’s really exciting,” he said. “I think everybody feels that way. It’s time to start with the league and we’re looking forward to it. I think we’re ready.

“We’ve watched St Johnstone really well and I think we’re ready for a good fight and a good game.”

The Dons finished seventh last season and Thelin knows they need to show significant improvement this term.

“Of course we need to be in the upper half to try to achieve Europe but we also have to understand where we are coming from and try to build in the right way and then accelerate the process,” he said.

“We need to have a strong foundation to stand on and then add quality to that. I know the expectations at Aberdeen, everybody knows that, but we need to use that as a positive energy that people and fans believe in us and take it as a good thing, not as a heavy weight.

“We have to challenge for a European spot, that’s important for the club and the fans.”

With a sizeable travelling support expected in Perth, Thelin is hoping to engage the Red Army early on in the campaign.

“A football club is like one big family, it’s like everybody is connected and wants the same thing,” he said. “If you can connect that energy in the same direction so that everybody is on the same track and supporting each other, that is the way you get stronger.

“We can’t have some going this way and some going that way. When I started here, it was a long-term project and it remains a long-term project but we know there will be emotions within games.

“That’s why football is so fantastic because there are so many emotions. The most important thing is trying to find a way to win games and that the supporters feel like when they watch their players in the shirt that they are giving everything they have.”