Andy Considine joined a very exclusive AFC club recently, becoming a member of the now “magnificent seven” who gave clocked up 400 games for the Dons.

It’s a monumental milestone, especially in the modern game when so few players stay with a club for long, and one he was delighted to reach as he explained when he spoke to RedMatchday Magazine last week:

“I knew I was getting close to making my 400th appearance last season. I knew if I played in the side this season, I would be within touching distance. When I was told before the Ross County game that it was my 400th appearance for Aberdeen, I was absolutely delighted to have made it to another milestone.

“It is a real honour and quite surreal to be on that list of seven players who have all played 400 times. They are all absolute legends of the club. I also noticed they are all goalkeepers and defenders! I have no idea why that is. I suppose over the years, strikers have moved on if they have been successful here. Maybe defenders have less running to do so we can play on for longer! It’s a strange one, but whatever the reason is, I’m very proud to be in amongst them.

“These kinds of milestones are things I will probably enjoy more once I have hung up my boots. Then I can sit back and maybe understand better what I have achieved during my career. But I do understand the significance of it and what it means in terms if this club though. If, when I was as a young boy, someone came and said to me that by the age of 30 I would have played 400 games for Aberdeen, I would have bitten their hand off.

“Looking back, I broke my leg and had my hip operation, with those injuries together, I missed about a season and a half, potentially 50 odd games. I suppose when you think of that, I could have reached this tally sooner, but that is just the way football goes, injuries come to us all at some point, it’s part and parcel of the game unfortunately.

“I certainly don’t have many negative memories. Yes there have been some crazy games over the years, but I look back at my time at Pittodrie very positively and I just hope there are many more years to come. I am a very happy man and have been so fortunate to play 400 games and to play 400 games for a club like this.”

Any player who reaches this kind of landmark needs a real cocktail of qualities to do so, including, of course, plenty of ability. But such longevity is also a mark of a good character and a sound temperament, on and off the pitch. Treating triumph and disaster just the same is the mark of a man after all.

“There haven’t been too many games where I have got over exited afterwards. Win lose or draw, I have always tried to keep my emotions in check. As the years go by, you learn that in football, you get to move on, there's always another game to prepare for. Whatever the result, you need to forget about it and get onto the next one. If you have a bad game on a Saturday, you need to move and learn from it. As a young player you do take it to heart more if you make a mistake. You think about things too much. But if you dwell on it, it can affect your game for weeks.

“One game I didn’t manage to stay calm afterwards was when we got through against Dnipro! That was an incredible night. We realised we were a small fish in a big pond, we were not meant to get through at all. But we managed to do it and went on to have some fantastic experiences. It is so hard to get to the group stage nowadays but I was pleased to have had a chance to play in them and even get through them to play Bayern Munich. What an experience that was.

“Those games put us up against some of the best players I’ve ever come across, Miroslav Klose, Luca Toni, Lukas Podolski. If I had to pick one of them as the best player I've come up against, it would be Klose when we played them at Pittodrie. I know they maybe did not play as well as they could that night, but his touch and his pace and movement off the ball was incredible.

“You learn things from games like that and you see up close just what it is that great players have in their game that makes them stand out. The older I have got, the one thing I have been concerned about has been consistency. That is the one thing I have tried to nail down. I feel I have managed to do that and I think that is why I have managed to keep myself in the team.

“Becoming a father changes you too. Firstly there are all the sleepless nights – it is amazing how the body adapts to that! It is the best thing that has ever happened to me. I have two beautiful boys, Harry and Teddy. I must also mention my wife Madeleine. She has helped me get this far and I thank her for everything she has to deal with. As footballers, our partners have to do an awful lot to help us be ready and prepared for a Saturday. My family life is fantastic, the foundation of everything in so many ways.

“My Dad is very proud as well as I keep ticking off these milestones. He still has a season ticket and sits in the Main Stand. He is at every home game he can make and he has always been there for me. He is there to pass on advice, and give me an honest opinion!”

After finishing second again and reaching two cup finals last term, the Dons will be looking to repeat the successes of last term and, hopefully, go a step further along the line. It is a lot to ask when you look back at home much football we've played over the last few years and how little recovery time there's been. As Andrew notes, the squad have become masters at coping with such huge demands.

“A lot of people might have thought that the Cyprus game would have taken the wind out of our sails a bit, but the manager has made sure we were still at it. We are training really hard like we have always done.

“I do feel the boys are gelling really well as a team now. You can play as many pre-season games as you want, but they are not the same. When it comes to the real thing, it is different. Looking back and being honest, it took the four European games to get everyone gelling and making the team have a settled feel to it. Since we have started the domestic season, we have been really good.

“We have had some good away wins. Dingwall is a tough place to go, a venue we have struggled at many times, so hopefully we have overcome that now. And the same with Hamilton as well! It is a ground we really struggled at last season, so it was nice to get that monkey off our back.

“Although there are a lot of new faces in the dressing, the core of the side and the defence are still pretty much the same.”

Andrew is a veteran of several different Dons sides – and managers – now, but he’s loath to pick between them.

“I’m fortunate enough to have played in a number of very good sides. It is always hard comparing squads. Until we see how we do this season, I don’t think you can even begin to compare the team to the one we had last season. It is too early but looking at it now, I believe we are certainly level with where we were last season and hopefully there is more to come.

“For personal reasons, the one team that will always stand out was the one when I broke into the side. As a young boy sitting watching or playing in the sides that beat Rangers a couple of times on the last day of the season, that was eye-opening. Playing in those teams helped my game. You wanted to be part of that.

“There have been a few hairy moments over the years but thankfully I have far more good memories than bad.

“I think Jimmy Calderwood, out with the cup competitions, did a good job here. He put the club back on the map. His recruitment of players on the whole was very good. He brought in some very good players, some internationals. That was a cracking team.

“Craig and Archie need to take credit for getting some respect back into the club and stabilising things. And obviously since then, the gaffer and Tony and all the backroom staff have taken us higher and higher. We keep improving each season.

“As I have said before football has moved on and there is a lot more to the game. They have introduced a real professionalism throughout the whole club. They have also generated a belief. The manager has instilled a belief in every single one of us. Everything is so positive and that shows in every one of us on the park.

“When you look back at it, we had a fantastic season last year. beating Rangers to second spot and then getting to cup finals. I thought in the Scottish Cup final we were outstanding. It was just not meant to be.

“You need a bit of luck along the way, but as a squad we just keep our heads down. We don’t say silly things in the press. We don’t rile anyone up. We just get on with our jobs and take each game as it comes. That approach has worked so why change?”