'I'm not here to be in cruise control' says new Dons chief executive Bevington

The appointment of Adrian Bevington as Aberdeen's new chief executive last week certainly raised a few eyebrows. It is easy to see why. Over nearly three decades the 55-year-old has had some lofty roles at the top level of the game, including with the English and Welsh FAs and he has held a number of key club positions south of the border. So there was plenty to get through when he sat down to chat to the media for the first time since his arrival in the Granite City, here is a flavour of what he said. On joining Aberdeen ''I am absolutely delighted to be here, I am honoured and privileged to be asked to take on the role I have been given at Aberdeen football club. "Not every football club has that level of ownership where they are really determined to succeed. "I have had a lot of different experiences within football and the best chairman I have ever worked for in club football is undoubtedly Steve Gibson at Middlesbrough who I think is regarded far and wide as one of the best chairman in the UK. The commitment that Dave Cormack is showing Aberdeen and has showed me in the conversations we have had is very similar to the attitude and ambition and commitment of Gibson at Middlesbrough and that is a big reason why I am here." On Aberdeen's potential ''Massive potential. "When you walk into the stadium, even though we are planning for a new stadium, there is still so much greatness about this place. Sometimes you walk into a football club and they are in disrepair and you think "how are we going to get out of this situation?" this is not where Aberdeen football club are. "They have already got a great set of people working here, it has got a really good, strong, fantastic ownership, so if we can get the football right and keep the commercial growing effectively we have got every chance of achieving significant success with this football club. "We have got to stretch ourselves, we have to be ambitious, we have to be punchy. I am not coming here just to be in cruise control, I will be hands on but I also like to ensure that the people who work with me have the opportunity to develop and take decisions themselves with support from me but I am a very driven person myself." On head coach Stephen Robinson "I have already had some really good discussions with Stephen and I was very impressed with him. "I walked away without any shadow of a doubt that this is an individual who is absolutely driven to the max with very high professional standards. "I have worked with and met a lot of mangers over the years so I am very confident that Stephen and his coaching staff are going to leave no stone unturned moving forward. "He has to feel my support on a day-to-day basis and that is something I really have got across to him in the first meeting I had and I will do everything I can to support him. "I also want to support Lutz [Pfannenstiel, sporting director] so we can plan long term." On Aberdeen's move to a new stadium "It is quite clear to me that the club and the chairman are absolutely committed to wanting to deliver a new stadium, I do hope I can help and support him in that regard. "I have got experience earlier on in my career where when I was involved with the build and the opening of Middlesbrough's Riverside Stadium. "More recently than that was the build and opening and then activation of Wembley Stadium so there are two pretty big stadiums there. "And I was involved in the process and the opening of St George's Park national football centre so I have got quite a bit of experience around major capital projects in that regard. "I will do everything I can to build relationships within the local stakeholder community to support Dave [Cormack] and the board in that regards to drive us forward to see if we can get this moving in the right direction and across the line."