Winter

Aberdeen chairman Dave Cormack proclaimed “with Jimmy we feel we absolutely got the right guy” as he spoke mid lap of honour around the Hampden pitch.

Thelin showed a tactical awareness coming into the final. He gave his players two days off for him to come up with a game plan to topple Celtic – and it worked.

A change in personnel, a change in system, a change of approach anchored in pragmatism. No wonder given how Brendan Rodgers’ team had dismantled Thelin’s men at will on occasion this season.

The Swede also demonstrated bravery in doing so. To recognise something isn’t working is one thing. To do it and roll the dice as you stand on the brink of history, it’s quite something.

It’s a gamble that has paid off to the tune of immortality and £6m, the latter coming with the guarantee of European football until December in either the Europa or Conference League.

How much of it Thelin gets to invest remains to be seen – not least given he was backed heavily in January – but he’s earned the right to go again with this Aberdeen team with a sense of optimism behind him.

Cormack was persistent in his pursuit of Thelin and his man has presided over a maiden season that began with a blistering run and closed with a trophy in the cabinet. One that’s not resided there for a generation.

The frostiness of a winter of dismay will thaw out in the glow of a Union Street bus parade on Sunday.

Post mortems about being dismembered by St Mirren will be marked as an irrelevance amid the glory, all lost in a sea of red and white flags and scarves.

There will be a new set of challenges ahead for Thelin and his team – and a new set of expectations. But that’s for another day.

After this season and the most draining of days, the Pittodrie manager deserves to live in the here and now. Even just for a moment.

“You see how much it means to everyone,” he told BBC Scotland.

“That’s why football is so amazing. To be strong in the difficult times, keep believing and keep trying everything you channel every day.

“We have a lot to look forward to.”

Reform UK has said it will fully reinstate winter fuel payments to pensioners and scrap the two-child benefit cap, if the party gets into government.

The commitments – to be unveiled at a press conference next week – come after Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer faced pressure from Labour MPs to change his approach to both policies.

By the time of the next general election there may be no need to reverse either policy.

Sir Keir has already announced plans to ease cuts to winter fuel payments – without saying when or how.

And ministers say he has privately indicated he would like if possible to find a way to scrap the two-child benefit cap – although a formal decision may be many months away.

The intervention by Nigel Farage – first reported in the Sunday Telegraph – will highlight and magnify the increasingly awkward divisions over policy within Labour.

Reform UK said they would pay for their new polices by cutting net zero projects and scrapping hotels for asylum seekers.

A source told the paper it was “already outflanking Labour” on both issues.

Downing Street has been contacted for comment.

More than 10 million pensioners lost out on winter fuel payments, worth up to £300, when the pension top-up became restricted to only people receiving pension credit last year.

But Sir Keir has announced plans to ease the cuts in a U-turn following mounting political pressure in recent weeks.

The prime minster said the policy would be changed at the autumn Budget, adding ministers would only “make decisions we can afford”. He did not lay out exactly what this would entail.

The winter fuel payment is a lump sum of £200 a year for households with a pensioner under 80, or £300 for households with a pensioner over 80.

On the two-child benefit cap, the Observer reported Sir Keir had privately backed plans to scrap it.

The paper’s report that the PM was asking the Treasury to find ways to pay for it came alongside growing unrest and threats of rebellion among backbench Labour MPs.

The policy – which prevents most families from claiming means-tested benefits for any third or additional children born after April 2017 – was introduced in 2017 by the then-Conservative government and is estimated to affect 1.5 million families.

But the government’s child poverty strategy, which had been due for publication in the spring, has been delayed as it is still being worked on and measures including scrapping the cap are being considered.

Labour MPs have long been calling for it to be axed, with seven of them suspended from the parliamentary party for voting against the government on an amendment to do so.

Four were readmitted in February but the remainder continue to sit as independent MPs.

Pressure to remove the limit has remained on the government from senior Labour figures, including former Prime Minister Gordon Brown, who said it was “condemning children to poverty”.