Stefan Gartenmann lifts lid on Neil Warnock's Aberdeen FC reign and makes style confession that just 'didn't work'

Stefan Gartenmann pretty much witnessed it all at Aberdeen - from the Neil Warnock wobble to Hampden, Europe and the rattling of Rangers.

The defender, who was on loan from Midtjylland, had an eventful season at Pittodrie, from the high of scoring in a famous 3-1 win at Ibrox, playing in the group stages of the Europa Conference League and the Viaplay Cup final. There was also the alarming low when Aberdeen’s season came off the rails.

They brought in veteran Neil Warnock but he failed to win a Premiership game and he exited prematurely with the team perilously close to the relegation trapdoor. Warnock did get the Dons into the Scottish Cup semi-final but in the league his team sunk like a stone and he left after 34 days. First-team coach Peter Leven had to come in and salvage Aberdeen’s season. Gartenmann saw the confidence drain under Warnock and admitted his playing style was too direct and didn’t fit the players he had at Pittodrie.

The Dane said: “I am not going to put in all on Neil Warnock but the way we were playing at the time just didn’t work. With the players we had, it didn’t work.

“He wanted to play a lot simpler and you could see that. He took the centre halves in and he would kill us if we tried to dribble or pass it. He just wanted to put it forward. That was a big part of the reason why we struggled at that time.”

Aberdeen struggled to cope with the demands of European group stage football and their domestic commitments. Barry Robson lost his job and Gartenmann knows that spell at the start of the year, where Warnock came in and quickly departed, really felt like the deepest, darkest winter. Scotland was being hit by storms and the Dons team was also being battered.

The defender admitted: “January