There is a special interview in RedMatchday Magazine Issue 15 with Dons keeper Danny Ward.

The Dressing Room

It’s the lot of the professional footballer to find himself moving from club to club, especially in the early days of a career when loan moves often play a big part in a player’s development. That throws players into new environments and, in particular, new dressing rooms.

Being accepted and feeling comfortable there is a big part of then being able to express yourself on the field. It’s easy to see that goalkeeper Danny Ward feels very much at home in the Pittodrie dressing room, so we asked him to give us the lowdown on the men he shares his working week with.

… “Normally, coming into a new dressing room is a difficult experience. When I came up to Aberdeen, I only knew Ash but he told me it was a good dressing room and spoke very highly about all the staff, but until you actually come into a club you never really know. Ash was spot on though. It is a great dressing room and a great club. I have absolutely no complaints whatsoever.

… “And it is not just in the dressing room. Everyone in the club has been brilliant with me. There is a really good atmosphere around the place. Everyone gets on. The changing room is a good place to be and it is a good place to come and work during the week. The team spirit we have shown on a Saturday during a game.

As to my team-mates, we’ll go through them one by one….

The keeper also talks about his time at Aberdeen and looks ahead to the European Championships in the summer:

… “I just knew it was going happen. I actually did not watch the draw live, I was out at the time, but I was not surprised at all when I heard the news.  As soon as England and Wales were drawn together, that was the story and will be the game, and you can understand why, especially with the rivalry. It will probably be billed as the ‘Battle of Britain’. “Wales have made great progress this year and England are still one of the top European nations with the players they have got.

And as players, we also know there are two other very good teams in the group in the shape of Slovakia and Russia”

… ” the big thing for me was trying to get some consistency. I feel the majority of the times I have played this season, I have been quite consistent. A big part of that is down to the work I do during the week on the training ground with the team and the coaches, and especially working with Gordon Marshall who has been brilliant with me.

… “The feedback I get from Gordon, our video analyst Greig Thomson, speaking to the manager and Tony Docherty on a regular basis, and from Liverpool as well, I take all that on board and then you try and take that into the training and then into the games. Playing games at such a young age as a goalkeeper has helped me mature on the pitch. I feel very settled and quite confident going into games now. My game management is better which gives me that confidence.

… “Sometimes you have to work against the complacency, especially as a goalkeeper. If you have one or two good games, you have to be careful not to take it for granted. You always have to be on your toes.

… “It is also impossible to win every week and like every team we had a bad run of results in October.

… “It is tough and therefore I think the way the lads have responded to that little patch we had when we were struggling has been brilliant. It says a lot about the ability and character within this squad. The way the defence have performed in recent weeks after that has been brilliant, as well as the way the whole team have defended as everyone has their jobs to do defensively, including myself.

… “We are doing our jobs quite well at the moment and hopefully that will continue in 2016”.

plus: Derek McInnes, Ryan Jack, Dylan Thomas, Jen Petersen, John Mellis, an Adam Rooney poster, a review of 2015 and a look ahead to 2016. Plus all the usual features. All this for only £3.

RedMatchday Magazine is available from in and around the ground as well as the AFC club shop. If you cannot make the game then you can buy a copy online by clicking here