Aberdeen Football Club is once again trying to get its house in order.

Keen to make a swifter appointment than last time, the Dons are on the hunt for what will be a fourth man to take the reins in 2026, if you include Jimmy Thelin's solitary game in the calendar year at Falkirk in January and Peter Leven's lengthy interim stint.

Dave Cormack's time in charge has been a roller-coaster, with some highs: the Scottish Cup lift, Barry Robson memorably leading the club to third and Thelin's explosive start to life at Pittodrie before that day in May 2025.

However, there have been far too many lows, and the worry is that they haven't had the worst of them yet, with the team sitting 11th in the table before the international break.

A trip to bottom side Kilmarnock, just two points behind the Dons, is up next, and Rugby Park won't be for the faint-hearted, even at this relatively early stage of the season.

The north-east of Scotland is a hotbed of football and, as even the great Willie Miller has acknowledged to me several times, his legendary side, which collected trophies like a North Sea trawler hauls in haddock, failed to produce the average attendance figures this Aberdeen team does, despite their obvious faults and negative results.

The club has to ensure that doesn't slip amidst their latest rebuild because apathy can be a silent assassin for any football club should supporters feel there is something more productive to do on a Saturday afternoon.

A glaring concern for the medium term is that, while at other points in Cormack's chairmanship there have been clear financial assets among the playing staff, that is demonstrably not true of the squad assembled by the now-departed Robinson.

The likes of Lewis Mayo and Brad Lyons were not getting a game at Kilmarnock as they battled relegation last season. Chris Cadden was down the pecking order at Hibs and was signed despite Dylan Lobban and Nicky Devlin already being on the payroll.

The jury remains very much out on the likes of Alexander Briedl, Tony Yogane, Lewis Smith and Dan Happe.

Whoever the new man is has an almighty task on his hands: first to put out the fire and then to make the sort of progress his five predecessors struggled to achieve.