Top 10 Jimmy Thelin Moments
Number One Will Shock You
The Football Monitoring Board acted swiftly last night to remove Jimmy Thelin as manager of Aberdeen FC.
It was a disappointing end to the Swede’s tenure with the story to broken by a Glasgow rag a good hour or so before the club’s official statement.
Being fair, with a new Sporting Director in place, money spent, the club was in a stick or twist position given the relative mediocrity we’ve seen for most of 2025 in the SPFL. We don’t know what would have happened had Jimmy stayed in place but there was substantial evidence to suggest things would not have improved to the minimum expectations of the club and the fans.
There will be more time to look to the future but for now its time to acknowledge the past.
Top 10 Jimmy Thelin Moments at Aberdeen
This blog is effectively a story of Jimmy’s time with the Dons. Here’s my top 10 moments. I’ve tried to add some balance across his whole time in charge.
10. First half v Rangers (April 2025)
In many ways this a microcosm of the whole thing. A great first period, a downturn, false hope in the second half (Nisbet’s disallowed third) and then a limp finish.
But for 45 minutes it was a lot of fun. Keskinen roasting McCausland, Clarkson with a Madison-esque free-kick and a classic Shady Mo assist to the enigma of Pape Gueye. All whilst a sulking Bazza watches on.
9. Dundee 4–0 (October 2025)
Ah Dundee. Where would we be without you. Five wins out of five for Jimmy against the Dark Blues.
I wanted to put something in for this season. It seemed in the first half, that maybe it was all going to click after all as we got the monkey off our back for the season. Karlsson showing his class, Gyamfi giving us optimism. It came hard on the heels of the decent showing against Shakhtar and preceded the Lazetic St. Mirren match. Ah well.
8. Motherwell 4–1 (March 2025)
This was a commanding performance to secure a top-6 spot and happened right slap back in the middle of a one-defeat in twelve run last spring. Clarkson on the day was terrific pulling the strings in a deeper role as the Dons played great football, had lots of shots on target and scored four goals.
7. Nisbet last minute vs Ross County (August 2024)
There were warning signs here of course. Little attacking threat, Mitov saving a penalty. But what can top a last-minute winner in the sunshine, just before the International break to keep us joint-top.
6. Dundee 2–1 (September 2024)
This I think was the game that launched Thelin-Mania outside of Aberdeen. Two counter-attacking goals delivered at blistering speed. It was a 12th consecutive win in all competitions. Nisbet was starting to cook and Keskinen looked like a star in the making.
5. Palaversa vs Hearts (October 2024)
The cracks really start to appear here as Liam Fox’s Hearts caused the Dons a lot of problems, disrupting the build-up and missing a number of good chances before they eventually went 2-1 ahead.
But the Dons, as was their way at the time fought back. Nicky Devlin continued his great attacking influence with an equaliser before Duk, made his return to the team and set up new boy Ante Palaversa to thunder the winner home in the 88th minute.
4. Dabbagh Winner at Hampden (April 2025)
Oday Dabbagh, you came, you saw, you conquered. After an even first-half, Hearts going down to ten men made for an extremely tense second period. Dante Polvara came on and made an impact, as did Jeppe Okkels but it was the Palestinian forward who made the difference, staying onside to poke him the rebound from Jack Milne’s shot. Not the last time he’d hit the net at that end.
3. Rangers 2–1 (October 2024)
A glorious night at Pittodrie when the Dons were vastly superior to the visitors. Devlin again grabbing a goal. McGrath’s woeful penalty miss seemed to have extinguished the pre-match fireworks as the Dons allowed the opposition to equalise in the second half. But up stepped Shady Mo, to win the match, keep the Dons top and open up a 9pt gap to Phillipe Clement’s side.
2. Celtic 2-2 (October 2024)
Two perfect sides meeting for a top of the table decider. It had the feel of a boxing match, the contender versus the challenger. In truth, the Dons would have suffered a heavy points defeat had it been in the ring. Thelin’s men were put in their place in the first half as normal service appeared to resume.
The second half will live long in the memory. Ester Sokler’s rare great finish, followed by Shinnie silencing Celtic Park. For a flicker, it even looked like Duk had put us ahead before VAR intervened. Desperate defending at the end secured the point. At that moment, it seemed like anything might be possible.
1. Scottish Cup Victory
There’s not much that can be said that hasn’t already been said here so just sit back and watch the highlights one more time.
Those last two sum up the positive face of the Jimmy tenure. What Hearts are feeling with Jamestown and Motherwell with JBA is the hope that maybe there are some cheat codes to achieving amazing things in Scottish Football. At Celtic Park in October, it seemed like we had that at Aberdeen. I felt that things would only get better, when Thelin got his own men in and had more time to imprint his system. The opposite was true.
And yet, at Hampden, with that hope diminished, he delivered silverware. The prize that, when you stop believing in miracles, is probably the biggest we can win the way things are. Jimmy, and his team won it.
Cheers min.