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Andrew Considine | Red Matchday Feature

02 January 2019
Author Malcolm Panton (Red Matchday Editor)

 

Andrew spoke recently to the red matchday editor.

 

The Dons defender is once again one of the most consistant performers at Pittodrie this season.

He was outstanding during the month of December, playing at centre half, but he’s making his mark behind the scenes this season too because he was part of the coaching set up with the Aberdeen U16s who won the inaugural Club Academy Scotland Scottish Cup by beating Hearts 1-0 at the Balmoral Stadium, all part of his ongoing coaching studies.

“I’m very lucky to get the opportunity to be involved with the Youth Academy. I was starting to go on my UEFA B Licence course, but I felt I needed to see if coaching really was for me. I must say a massive thanks to Gavin Levey, Robbie Hedderman and Steven Gunn. They all helped me out and got me involved. From day one, the group were fantastic. I managed to do about half a dozen sessions myself and it was a great experience. It was something I needed. I needed to get to grips with it.

“I’ve worked with a good number of management teams at Pittodrie, so that has given me a lot of experience because every manager and coach is different. I have a feel for what works and what does not. But when you do it, it’s a completely different job to playing football, it really is. It’s like starting all over again. As a footballer, everything is done for you. You are told what to do, and you go and do it. But I see so much more to the game now that I am involved with being a coach and standing on the sidelines.

“I’ve gone through my B Licence now, so I’m waiting to see if I have passed or not. I went down to Broadwood during the three international breaks this season and I was in a group alongside a lot of professionals who are still involved with in the game. It was nice to get to know the likes of Danny Swanson, Marvin Bartley and Stephen McGinn who were on the course. You also had coaches from America, Belgium, all over the world. It was very interesting to see the coaching drills that they put on.

“I would like to think the young players got something from me being there, especially as I am a first team player so they can relate to me and it is all about them seeing the pathway that is in place at this club. Before me, Rachel Corsie worked with the group as she mentioned in a recent programme and the boys would have also benefited greatly from Rachel’s experience.

“The U16s are a really good group and they are an outstanding team. Their league record speaks for itself. I believe they only lost a couple of games throughout the whole year, certainly since I came in.

“I was at the quarter-final against Rangers at Balgownie when we won on penalties. That was brilliant. The place erupted when we won. As a coach it’s a completely different feeling in that situation. It’s weird, completely different emotions but very enjoyable nonetheless.

“I was unable to make the semi-final because we were playing Rangers that day in our semi-final at Hampden but they were having lunch in the same hotel as us so Scott Mckenna and myself popped along to see the boys and give them a bit of encouragement.

“It was great being part of the final at Cove, just watching in the stand. I had an earpiece to the coaches, so I was doing the Barry Robson role! I was delighted for the boys

“Looking back, I don’t think there was enough competition in the youth set up when I was coming through. It is hard to believe that it’s the first year they have had a cup competition at that age group. You should start competitive games as young as possible so players develop that competitive instinct. Hopefully the competition will benefit Scottish football in 10 to 15 years time.

“I do think that kids that age now have a lot more confidence about them, a lot more than when I was that age. It’s a very good group and a number of them will come in full-time over the next few years. I’m not sure how I will feel if I land up playing with any of them in the first team!”

Andrew continues to clock up the games for the first team – the League Cup final was game number 450 – and that number has certainly shot up through an incredibly busy December.

“We knew this month would be massive for us. We knew if we could come through with winning at least 75% of the games, we would be sitting in the top six and probably the top four. We wanted to get to that point to kick on after the winter break.

“It has been a tough month, and maybe more so for the defenders. We are a bit stretched at the back with the number of injuries we have. Dom could play there and obviously Shinnie could play at full-back, but we are a bit thin across the back.

“It’s been very unfortunate with the injuries to Mikey, Mark Reynolds and Tommie Hoban all at the same time. We’re down to the bare bones, so they’ve thrown me in at centre-back. I’m loving my football and always have done here, so I’m delighted to be playing centre-half and as long as the team’s winning, it’s great.

“The fact we’ve started scoring more goals helps too, it takes a bit of the pressure off. Big Sam has been brilliant recently. He gives us something we have been missing for a while. He’s a target man, he holds the ball up well. He is also a lot quicker than people think, so he can cover a lot of ground and he is doing a good job up there for us at the moment. But for a striker, their real confidence comes from scoring goals.

“Sam is our out ball. Sam can get us up the pitch. He can win us free-kicks when we have been under a bit of pressure. He links up well with the runners, so he is becoming a massive player for us.

“The more games he plays, his confidence will continue to build. He is still a young lad with his career ahead of him, but this is a good place for him to be, a place where there are fantastic coaches, a good team and a good bunch of boys. We all want the best for him.

“We were all desperate for Stevie to get on the scoresheet too because he does so much unselfish work for the side. He is giving so much to the team, and he is also getting himself in good positions with the runs that he is making.

“Connor has been outstanding in recent weeks. He has been a breath of fresh air. What happened to Gary in the cup final was really unfortunate, but we needed someone to step up to the plate and help provide that creativity. Connor has been given a chance and he’s taken it.

“Overall this season, I feel we have just quietly gone about our business. It’s probably been one of our most inconsistent starts for a number of years, but we have still managed to pick up results. With two more games to go, if we can pick up two more good results, then we will be in a good position going into the winter break.

“It’s probably been our most inconsistent start so far, but the manager said we’ve sat on 36 points at the turn of the year and yet gone on to finish second, so when you sit back and think about it like that, bearing in mind the number of new faces we’ve got and the injuries we’ve had, it’s not been too bad.

“The past three or four years, we’ve been second and have been chasing Celtic to the top so there’s always that pressure.

“I think it’s really refreshing to see the competitiveness of the league this season. I felt the league was tough last season, but this year it’s stepped up again. It just shows that every year the league gets stronger and I think it’s great for Scottish football. We knew it would be a tough challenge to be back up the top of the league, but as I say I feel that as a club, we’ve always gone about our business quietly. The results speak for themselves at the end of the season, that’s the focus”.

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