Redmatchday Issue 12 | Preview

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….”As I mentioned in my programme interview last year, I was a left-back when I was younger, so the position is not completely alien to me. It was my dad who got me to play further forward and that is how I got a move to England and got into all the Ireland Youth squads. I then gradually evolved into a winger, but I’m now older and have more experience which means I can slot into different positions.

….”Leading up to the Motherwell game I was having lunch with Niall and Josh and we were talking about things and they called it right by saying I would be the person filling in at left-back, so I had already started to think about it. When the manager asked if I could do it, I said, “No bother”. Having Mark Reynolds next to me, talking me through the game obviously makes a big difference, and Russell as well.

….”If one person is not fit and not living their life right, they are not just letting themselves down, they will let the whole team down, the fans, the city, everybody. The boys therefore take a responsibility within themselves to police the situation to make sure everyone is right and everyone is training right. You can get found out in training because there is nowhere to hide these days. Especially with the banter we have in the dressing room! The slightest bad day and everyone is on your case.

….”You just can’t get away with it any more. We are probably ahead of a lot of dressing rooms in the country with that mentality. The professionalism here is second to none. That can only hold us in good stead for the future.”

YOUNG DONS FEATURE | Scott Rumsby

….”It is not until you play with the part-time players that you understand just how much effort and commitment they put into their football. They all have jobs and most are working from Monday to Friday. Many jobs nowadays are not nine to five and some of the boys have to work nightshifts, then play on a Saturday. We train two nights a week, but I have learned that these guys are also in the gym at every other available opportunity. Anytime they get a spare couple of hours, they are in the gym doing something. They put some shift in.”

That commitment was taken to a new level by Scott’s central defensive partner Frank McKeown. Frank is a firefighter and was working the night when a police helicopter crashed into the Clutha Vaults, a pub on the north bank of the River Clyde in central Glasgow. Frank, along with 150 other firefighers, was part of the huge rescue operation at the disaster scene where 10 people died. After working through the night, and experiencing unimaginably horrific scenes, he finished work at 8am and, with only one hour’s sleep, Frank took his place in the Stranraer side against Clyde in the fourth round of the Scottish Cup, which ended in a 1-1 draw. His efforts were not in vain; Stranraer won the replay 4-1 and will now be at home to Inverness CT in the fifth round.

“To experience what he did that night, only get a little sleep, yet still go and play for the team was incredible. I think even the gaffer was advising him to take the day off but he insisted on playing. He is the club captain. He played at a good level, he was with Raith Rovers and Partick Thistle. I have learned a lot from big Frank, on and off the park.”

EX PLAYERS FEATURE | Eoin Jess

Dons legend Eoin Jess had some of his best moments in the League Cup. It was in this competition that he burst onto the scene in 1989 when the youngster was thrown into the side for the final against Rangers and helped the Dons lift the Skol League Cup trophy that day. He then scored the winning goal in the Skol Cup semi-final against Celtic in 1992.

As all Dons fans know, the last trophy to be won by the Club was the Coca-Cola League Cup in 1995. Although Aberdeen defeated the then First Division Dundee 2-0 in the final, it was the semi-final victory over Rangers that gave the Red Army the greatest pleasure and there is one particular moment involving Jess that has gone down in Aberdeen folklore.

AFC Sticker Collection

redmatchday magazine is on sale from in and around the ground on Saturday and is also available from the Pittodrie Club shop still priced at £3.