Aberdeen give Leven permission to talk to St Johnstone

Aberdeen have given coach Peter Leven permission to speak to St Johnstone about their managerial vacancy, team boss Jimmy Thelin has confirmed.

The Perth club are seeking a successor to Craig Levein, who was sacked after a run of four straight defeats.

St Johnstone are also speaking to Larne manager Tiernan Lynch, while interim boss Andy Kirk has expressed his readiness to take the job permanently.

"He has permission to talk with them," Thelin said of former Dons caretaker-boss Leven. "He's a good coach and it's good that our good staff get eyes on them.

"It's up to him, but so far so good, he's focusing here for the game tomorrow."

The 41-year-old Leven has had two spells as Aberdeen caretaker since joining the Pittodrie coaching staff in June last year.

The former Kilmarnock, MK Dons and Oxford midfielder was also assistant manager at Kilmarnock, Dynamo Brest and Russian side Orenburg before his move to Pittodrie.

"It's always a blow when you lose staff," added Thelin. "We'd miss him, of course, but we have to find solutions for the future.

"When good people do good things, they get eyes on them. We want him to stay here, but it's also good that he gets recognition from other clubs as well."

Aberdeen midfielder Leighton Clarkson added "we'd all be gutted to lose him", given "what he's done with a lot of the players when he was interim manager and what he's doing now".

"He's a big character and a big coach," he said. "His knowledge of the game is really good, the way he wants to play football and the way he communicates with all the lads is good and he's the one who does all the extra sessions and he's been a big part of my journey."

Meanwhile, Lynch is due to take charge of Larne's visit to Cliftonville in Northern Ireland's Premiership on Friday evening.

The Belfast-born 44-year-old, who was previously assistant at Glentoran, has been in charge since 2017 but has caught the eye after back-to-back titles, and progress to the Uefa Conference League to become the first Northern Irish club to reach the main draw of a European competition.

Ayr United's Scott Brown had been linked with the job at McDiarmid Park, but the former Celtic and Scotland midfielder has since signed a contract extension with the Scottish Championship club.

Former Northern Ireland striker Kirk and assistant Alex Cleland will take charge of St Johnstone for a second time as Premiership leaders Celtic visit on Saturday, having drawn their first game 3-3 at Ross County last weekend.