Peter Leven on the family sacrifices for Aberdeen FC coaching path that led to Hampden

Peter Leven has had to make significant sacrifices to get this far in his coaching career.

That is why he is determined that Aberdeen will make their mark at Hampden this weekend. The interim boss will lead the Dons out in Saturday’s Scottish Cup semi-final looking to upset the odds against Celtic. It will be the biggest match of Leven’s coaching career, in terms of him being the manager and making the big decisions.

The 40-year-old has coached in England, Scotland, Belarus and Russia. He has kept his home in Newcastle and that has meant long spells away from his wife and daughter. Aberdeen is just under five hours away from them and Leven said: “My family’s in Newcastle. It’s better than Russia, so I get to see them more than when I lived abroad for four years. We met mostly in Warsaw, which was a little bit handier. We had a few weekends there.

“In Russia you have the whole of December off and the first half of January because it’s too cold to play. So you get the whole of Christmas off, which was nice.

“My family come up to the Edinburgh games and the Glasgow games. It can be difficult at times but when I’m up here I’m fully focused on the club and the training.”

Leven is now a decade into his coaching career. It saw him kick off at the Middlesbrough Academy then become assistant manager to Lee McCulloch at Kilmarnock. After that he was a a No.2 in successful spells with Dynamo Brest and Orenburg, under Marcel Licka. H

He helped Brest to win the Belarussian title and qualify for the Champions League. Then in Russia he helped Orenburg win promotion to their top-flight. He believes he is a better coach for those overseas experiences.

Leven acknowledged: “You have to travel (as a football coach). I wanted to go away