Paul Quinn

You’d get few arguments – certainly in and around Pittodrie – if you were to call Paul Quinn “the defender’s defender”. Not one for trying to catch the eye or do anything flash, Quinn puts his body on the line in game after game, summing up the “they shall not pass” attitude of some of the best defenders in the game.

…. “I think it just comes down to an attitude thing,” says Quinn. “If I can get any kind of block on the ball, I will throw myself in the way. It shows I am wanting to win and shows my desire and all the old cliché words and phrases that are used in football.

…. “More importantly though it can lift the players round about you, as well as the fans. The supporters travel hundreds of miles for each away game in their thousands. If you were to take any one of those supporters and put them on the 18 yard box and say to them, “We will win this game 1-0 if you throw yourself in front of the ball, you might get hit in the face with the ball”, any one of those fans would do it. So as a player, you need to put yourself in that category. It is about going that extra half yard.

…. “I am outspoken in the dressing room but I would like to think in a constructive way. I enjoy the banter with the boys and I like to be in amongst it at times but when it is time to put the professional head on, I like to think I know when to do this.

…. “We also have a lot of young talented players in there. It goes without saying that myself, Willo, Barry have to try and look after them as much as we can. We can pass on our knowledge from the experiences we have had.

…. “That is what I, and the other experienced players, can bring to the table as well as our own performances. It is important that we set a good example. They will watch how we go about things. It is a big responsibility and it is one you have to take on as a player when you reach a certain age. You have to be a role model and the manager has to be able to trust you in that role. On top of that, you have to be doing your own job properly too”. Part of that job, and a big reason why Aberdeen were so keen to get him here, was that Paul is a great talker and a great leader on and off the park, an increasing rarity in the game. When Derek McInnes joined West Brom, they were the qualities that manager Gary Megson singled out in him, McInnes captaining Albion to promotion to the Premier League. Perhaps he sees similar gifts in Quinn.

…. “Passing information on on the pitch is as important as anything you do. Every player is different and people do it in different ways with different mannerisms. I am maybe a bit more aggressive and I try to get things organised on the pitch. It is like anything else in any walk of life, if you are organised then things run smoother. That is a theory I have always applied.

…. “I think excitement overshadows nerves these days to be honest which is why I can handle the big games. The nerves when I was younger were more in terms of being worried how I played and being worried about what everyone else thought.

…. “At my age – I keep saying at my age and I am not that old! At this stage of my career, it is more about not wanting to upset the fans, your team mates round about you and the club. When you are younger, you just want to go out and do this and do that to get a tick beside your name at the end of the 90 minutes.

…. “Now there is more excitement and also probably enjoyment. There is no better feeling than going out and making the supporters happy, especially our fans.

Derek McInnes

“Our league position is probably are where most people thought we would be, just tucked in behind Celtic but slightly ahead of other teams. The aim now going into the second round of games is to improve as we go along.

“We never get too high or carried away when winning game after game or get too down at the moment when we haven’t been.

“I’m experienced enough to know that if we all stay positive, stick together, work hard, and the players show there confidence we will win games.

“It is important we all at Aberdeen recognise that we win games together and we will lose games together but we are always together.”

Ryan Jack

“Four defeats on the bounce has been difficult to take but at the same time, it’s important that we don’t get too down about the way things have gone.

“Confidence is such an important part of the game and obviously, losing games draws some of that away from you but the only people that can address that are the players and the staff here and we have been working very hard in recent weeks, including the international break, to try and set off on another strong run like the one we had at the start of the season. “It doesn’t matter who you are, over the course of a long season, you will have a spell where things don’t go your way and results are disappointing. What matters is how you respond to it, how quickly you can turn things around and get back to putting some positive results on the board.”

Plus: The Former Players Interview is with Phil McGuire, plus columns and interviews with Ally Begg, Richard Gordon, Niall McGinn, Mark Reynolds, Kalvin Orsi as well as the usual features and articles.

RedMatchday Magazine is priced at £3.00 and is available from the sellers in and around the ground before the game as well the AFC Club shop. For anyone who can't make it along to Pittodrie on Saturday you can buy a copy of RedMatchday online please click here