The Pittodrie club have announced that they have “officially received permission to engage in formal discussions” with the 51-year-old Northern Irishman over their managerial vacancy.
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Peter Leven has been in caretaker charge since Aberdeen sacked Jimmy Thelin in early January.
But they suffered a heavy 3-0 defeat to second-tier Dunfermline Athletic in the Scottish Cup quarter-finals on Saturday and have won just once in eight outings, losing the last three.
Meanwhile, Robinson led St Mirren to their second cup semi-final of the season on Sunday as the Paisley side defeated Partick Thistle having lifted the League Cup with a victory over league champions Celtic in November.
He led the Buddies to top-six finishes in his previous three seasons, although they currently sit in 10th place, one place and five points behind Aberdeen, just three ahead of Kilmarnock in the relegation play-off place.
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News of Aberdeen’s approach comes just over a week after chairman Dave Cormack confirmed that former Mainz, Hertha Berlin and Dinamo Moscow coach Sandro Schwarz, who recently left New York Red Bulls, was in town to discuss the vacancy.
However, Cormack stressed that the German was just one of several candidates.
Last month, Eirik Horneland also emerged as a leading candidate following his departure from French Ligue 2 club Saint-Etienne.
However, Brann and Rosenborg’s former coach subsequently said that he would not take on another position at least until the end of the season.
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Former Northern Ireland midfielder Robinson began his coaching career with his country’s youth team before managing Oldham Athletic, Motherwell and Morecambe.
He has tasted more success in Scotland than in England and has a 33.5% win rate with St Mirren, although that is less than the 42% he achieved with Motherwell, whom he took to both cup finals in 2017-18, when they lost to Celtic on both occasions.