the midfielder speaks to RedMatchday

NICKY LOW

Sometimes, if you want a footballing high, you need look no further than a footballing Low – not if you’re an Aberdeen fan anyway. For amongst the batch of young Dons bubbling under the first team is Nicky Low, a midfield man who might just be the next graduate of Neil Cooper’s finishing school here at Pittodrie.

In a season that has already seen plenty of next generation Dons making their mark in the first team, it is hard to believe there are still others ready to do likewise, but if sheer determination and hard work are the benchmark for future achievement – and can you think of any better starting place than that? – then Nicky Low has the right credentials to follow in the footsteps of Shaughnessy, Jack, Smith and Robertson in the coming weeks and months.

For such a young man, especially one born out of the Aberdeen orbit, Low is steeped in Pittodrie tradition having already spent half his life on the club’s books and when you speak to him, it’s clear this adopted Don has Aberdeen’s best interests at heart.

“I grew up in Greenock and supported Greenock Morton, so it is nice to see my local side doing well this season, at the top of the First Division! Back home, I had a hard upbringing but it has made me a stronger person inside. It was quite a rough area back then and I grew up in a tough neighbourhood – I saw a lot pretty rough things in my younger days. But having had that type of upbringing it does help you as you get older. It has made me wiser and it made me want to have no part in any of that, made me determined to get away from it. Luckily for me, I got a chance to join Aberdeen.

“I have been with Aberdeen since I was 10. I played for East End Boys Club in Greenock and John Ward, who was in charge of the AFC Youth Academy Glasgow Centre at the time, spotted me. He spoke to my grandad and I was invited along to play there. I still remember my first ever game – I scored six goals against St Mirren up at Hamilton Palace where we used to play our games. We used to train on a Tuesday and a Thursday with John, but then he left and Peter Weir came in and after that we then trained on a Monday, Wednesday and a Thursday. We trained at different places like at Coatbridge and Motherwell.

“My grandad used to take me to all my games and he made sure I stuck at my football. When I joined Aberdeen, he used to drive me all over the county. I have a lot to thank him for, he is a very big reason I have made it this far as a professional.

“You do have to sacrifice a lot as it takes over your life. You cannot go out with your friends at weekends, you have to stay in the house and behave properly. I had to give up a lot, but so did my family. My granddad and my mum sat me down and said they would back me if I wanted to do it but they said that if I wasn’t committed there was no point. I always knew from a young age that if I stuck in I had a chance, because I had ability, and thankfully my granddad took me to all these training places. It cost him a lot of money in petrol.

“Also, he worked across the water so would have to finish work early to get the boat to get back in time to take me from Greenock to training. He would not even have time for his tea before we would have to leave and we would not get back to the house till 11 at night.He would then be back up at six in the morning for work. When I am going through a tough time, I just think of him and the sacrifice he made for me and it just makes me work harder.

“I also have a lot to thank Peter Weir for. I was not really starting for the team until I reached U17 level and he was the one who pushed my name and backed me. He kept fighting for me to play. I also struggled with my fitness when I was not playing regularly so he would take me aside and give me extra running and looked after me. Peter gave me the chance to get a full time contract and thankfully that is what happened.

“When I did get a chance I scored lots of goals and set up even more, but it was Peter who made the difference and allowed me to get that chance. I remember one day we were at Hearts and I was on the bench. We were losing 1-0 and me and Stephen O’Donnell, who is now at Partick Thistle, came on and we turned the game. I set up a goal for Stephen and then I scored the winner after running from the halfway line and beating a few players. The following week I started and we beat Celtic 1-0 and after that, I did not look back.

“When I joined the club full time, it was hard at first. I had to leave my family behind and I had a little brother and sister who missed me. I was very homesick. I actually left for a while, but Peter came round to the house for a chat. He told me that he’d had the same problem when he first went to Aberdeen. He told me that if I stuck in, I would get through it and would start to enjoy it. Thankfully for me, I listened to Peter and did come through it.

“Peter has been a big influence on a lot of the young players who are coming through at the moment. Declan McManus is doing really well. He has always scored goals, even from the time I saw him at a young age, he’s just a really good natural finisher. To finish as top scorer in the Youth League last season, ahead of Tony Watt, was a great achievement. Since being here full time, he is getting stronger and can hold the ball up better. He also has a better understanding of the game. Craig, Archie and Jocky are always telling him what runs he needs to be making and that has to be a big help.

“Craig Storie has had a difficult time since coming up as he had a bad shoulder injury, but he is a great player with plenty of ability. Over the next couple of years, he will show that and he will have a big future at this club, as will Kieran Gibbons who is also a very promising midfielder.

“As well as Peter Weir, Neil Cooper has been brilliant for my career. He is a fantastic coach and I enjoy still being involved with the U20s because I am working with him. We have had a very good youth team for the past four or five years that I have been here, we’ve had some very good players every season. The one disappointment has been the Youth Cup. With the players we have had, we really should have got to a final or even won it. We have let Neil down in some of the quarter and semi-finals we have had. Hopefully, the young boys this season can go to Celtic and get a good result. If they can get through that game, they could go all the way this season, we certainly have a good enough squad”.

For young footballers at the top end clubs, going away for a spell on loan in the lower leagues is becoming an increasingly frequent and important part of their learning process and Nicky has been no exception to that rule. He spent most of last term at Forfar Athletic, where he collected their player of the season award, while earlier this season, he headed for Alloa where he teamed up with a couple of prominent former Dons. While being away might have cost him a game or two for our first team in the short term, in the longer term, the experience gained will surely prove invaluable.

“It has been a bit frustrating being out on loan recently with all the injuries because if I had been here, I would probably have been given a chance. In that sense it has been disappointing but I wanted to go and get games and get my sharpness up. I am now back fit and ready to go if I do get my chance.

“I thoroughly enjoyed my time on loan at Alloa. I enjoyed the training and there was a good bunch of boys in the dressing room. I was also very impressed with the manager Paul Hartley. I was quite surprised as he has only just begun on the path of management but he has obviously learned a lot from his time in the game and I think he is destined for the top.

“Tactically he is very knowledgeable. His team talks are quiet and thoughtful and generally he has a very calm persona, but he will soon tell you if he is not happy! He has a hard side to him as well, but all managers need that. Thankfully we won most of our games, so I did not see that side of him very often! His assistant is Paddy Connelly and the two of them work well together.

“The training was very well structured. There was also another guy who would help out. So at training you would do boxes with Paddy, then go and do passing with the gaffer, and then go and do finishing with Malky and then Paddy would do something else, so you would always be moving around and doing different things.

“Going to Alloa was similar to being on loan at Forfar last season as I was still playing in the same league but with Paul’s side, we were at the top of the league compared with the season before. Alloa also have a plastic pitch but that did not bother me. It suited my game because the pitch allows you to pass the ball.

“There is a big difference from playing in the Second Division compared with the U20 League. The games are a lot more competitive and there are a lot more experienced players, guys who have played in the SPL but are maybe just a bit older and have dropped down a few leagues. They can read the game so well. At Alloa, I played alongside Darren Young who helped me a lot and Stephen Simmons who played at Hearts was also there. As well as the experienced players, Paul has some good youth players as well. He has a lot of contacts from his playing days so that has helped him bring in quality players on loan. The standard in the Division is still high and I was quite surprised by that when I started with Forfar last season. The league is also a lot more physical. I have had a few bumps and bruises during my time there!”

In Nicky’s absence, yet more fresh faces have made it into the Aberdeen side, including one who is, quite literally, close to home.

“I share a flat with Joe Shaughnessy, so I am over the moon for him. He is a very laid back character and is very funny, so I get on very well with him. The first time he played was the Inverness game. We were both in the flat and the gaffer called him in the afternoon to say that he would be starting the game and would be playing left-midfield. I had to sit him down and had the pen and paper out to tell him all about the position and what he had to do! Although we lost that game, I thought he was one of our best players and to his credit he thanked me in his programme interview! Some of these Cruyff like turns he has been doing in games, he must have got them from watching me at training!!

“Since that night, he has gone on and done really well and I was delighted that he won the Young Player of the Month award. That will give him confidence to go on from here. He is one of the hardest working guys at the club, he never gives up. Like myself, he puts everything into everything he does, whether it be on the training pitch or in a game. On loan at Forfar, he had to stand up for himself and there were plenty of elbows flying about from strikers, and I think that helped him grow up in the game a bit.

“Saying how pleased I am for him and the other boys, waiting for my own chance has been frustrating to be honest and there are times when you think that it won’t come. I feel I have done well since I have been at the club, and I’ve done well in the U20 games this season and in reserve and the pre-season games. The gaffer has just said to me to be patient and that it is up to me to be ready to take my chance when I get it. I will keep working hard, I am not one to give up. You never know when that chance will come so you have to ready whenever and wherever it does.

“I think the centre of midfield is my best position as I can get on the ball a lot but I can do a job on the left of midfield. At Alloa, I actually played on the right and also played up front and in the hole just behind the striker. I used to be a striker when I was younger and scoring goals is part of my game.

“I’ve scored a few good ones and it is hard to pick just one but if I had to, it would have to be the one I scored against Hearts for the U20s on the first day of the Youth League this season. I picked the ball up on the half way line before beating a few boys, then ran through and finished it. Hearts had a strong team that day with a number of first team players. We had a younger team but in front of a big crowd, we still won 3-1 and bossed the game from start to finish.

“Overall, I feel like I have done well since I have been at Pittodrie and I am now just waiting for my chance in the first team. I always try and be positive. I am determined to do the best I can in life. When I do get a chance, I will show everyone how determined I am to keep the jersey. Over the years, some players have taken it for granted that they are at a big club like Aberdeen and other players have been affected by the size of the club. It is a massive club and your head can get taken all over the place and you can start to believe you are a better player than what you are. I would not like to think of myself as that type of player.

“Ever since I walked through the door at Pittodrie for the first time I have put my soul and heart into the club. I had a hard life when I was younger but that taught me to appreciate everything in life. “I also think if you have a tougher upbringing it makes you more determined to succeed. It makes you determined never to be beaten at anything.”