Joe spoke recently to RedMatchday Magazine

Joe Shaughnessy, along with Declan McManus and Jamie Masson, returned to Aberdeen this month after loan spells during the first half of the season. Joe told us about his time in the Championship and how much he is looking forward to the second half of the season. First off, how did he feel being back?

“It was great coming straight back into the squad against Motherwell. It was like I had never been away, sitting on the bench and feel part of things again. It was just nice to be back involved with the lads again. I was actually surprised with how welcoming they all were. It was good to see everyone again. I was living down the road so I had not seen my teammates for a while.

“The team are on some run at the moment. They are scoring goals and not letting many any in. It is a good combination! The boys seem to be playing well. Everything is set up for an exciting few months. I am looking forward to playing my part to help the team out.

“My time at Falkirk was good. It was definitely the right thing for me to do. A change of scenery did me good. At the start of the season, I was not really involved and that does kind of affect you mentally. It was good to go down there are get a few games.

“I remember reading what Peter Pawlett said after his loan spell at St Johnstone a couple of seasons ago and how he benefited from that spell away from Pittodrie. He has done not too badly since coming back! It does help you refocus and appreciate how big a club Aberdeen is and how much I want to be part of things going forward. I also felt more focused on my football.

“I played at right-back. They saw me play down there in the game against Falkirk in the League Cup and I was playing right-back that night. Alex Smith, who is the Director of Football at Falkirk, must have been impressed with me and I think he was the one who instigated the move. I reminded them that I scored too, but they had not forgotten! I know they had high hopes of beating us that night, they had a strong team with a number of the players since then having moved to England. We had quite a few players missing and I don’t think they were expecting us to give them such a heavy defeat, but we played really well. That was one of the best team performances I have been part of.

“Alex Smith is a great guy. He still has a real passion for the game. Every morning he would come in and go round and shake hands with everyone. He would watch every training session and was always available if I needed a chat or some advice. Many an afternoon he would sit and tell me stories about his time in football and his time at Aberdeen. He still has a great love of the club and the city. He was so positive about everything to do with Aberdeen. I know he really enjoyed his spell as manager and was honoured to have done the job.

“Falkirk is a big club, a very well run club with really nice people as well. They are set up for the SPFL Premiership and will be pushing to get back up over the next few seasons.

“The facilities are superb. The AstroTurf is the best artificial surface I have played on.

“We trained on it every day and there were very few injuries. I still prefer grass, but I can see the advantages of having it when you can work on it every day. It was very easy going to the stadium every morning and walking straight onto the training pitch.

I actually got injured on the Alloa AstroTurf which meant I missed a few weeks which was a bit frustrating. That surface is not as good as Falkirk’s pitch.

“At the stadium, everything was there for you. You could go to the gym and also in the afternoon you could go out and do extra work on the training field as the pitch was right there and you could go and do anything you wanted. Many afternoons, there were a few of us who would go back out.

“Peter Houston is the manager and, like our own manager, last week picked up a monthly award for December. He was very good. He has obviously coached at the top level in the game having worked with the national team. Ex Aberdeen player Alan Maybury was also part of the coaching set up and he would take sessions as well.

“After a slow start to the season, they have gone on a good run and I think they could push for a play-off spot. It is hard to get out of that league and especially this season with Hearts, Hibs and Rangers. I played against all three teams and we did ok.

“We pushed Hearts all the way and did well against them. We lost 2-1 and I actually had a difficult chance late on. We beat Hibs 1-0, so we showed we can mix it with all the teams in the Championship. Falkirk do have really young squad and maybe because of that, we were just lacking a bit of consistency. I went from being a young player here to being one of the older ones in the Falkirk dressing room! They have a good bunch of lads and some very promising young players and I wish them well and thank everyone at the club for the support they gave me whilst I was there.”