After Aberdeen were well beaten by St Mirren at Pittodrie in the final game of 2023, Graeme Shinnie pulled no punches in his assessment of the way the game went.

“It was an embarrassing display. The first half especially was shocking, and as a whole, performances like that at Pittodrie are totally unacceptable. The manager was right to be angry with us after the game because we weren’t good enough. It’s probably one of the worst displays since I’ve been back, especially the first half.

“From me as the captain, right the way through the team, we weren’t good enough. We were slack on the ball, giving it away too easily and, as an opposition team, that’s what they want to see happening when you come here. I thought we started ok, with a bit of momentum, but then we conceded a bad goal and from there, it was just a really bad day. There are no excuses at all.

“We have to do more on the pitch and we have to defend better as a team and not concede goals the way we have been. That’s not just today, but all season. We haven’t had many clean sheets, and when you look back to the second half of last season, that was the foundation of everything that we did. We were hard to beat, we didn’t concede goals, and we have to get back to that. We have to take responsibility for doing our jobs on the pitch.

“The fans reacted exactly the same way that I would have done if I’d been watching that. I’d have been walking out before the end. I can only apologise to them because Aberdeen shouldn’t be losing 3-0 at home to anybody.”