After leading the Dons to victory over Kilmarnock in the Scottish Cup, Graeme Shinnie reflected on the departure of manager Neil Warnock.
“I’ve had a good relationship with him, he’s been very open and honest with me so I’m gutted that it’s not gone the way we’ve wanted it to. We’ve conceded some terrible goals from individual errors and that’s let him down. There’s not much a manager can do about that, so we just wish him well and thank him for what he’s done.
“He told me yesterday that he was going, though not a lot of the boys knew because we wanted them just to focus on a big game. I’ve heard that they want to bring in a manager imminently, which would be the obvious thing to do to bring a little bit of stability back. The league form hasn’t been good enough so we need to stabilise that and with a semi-final to look forward to, there’s still a lot to play for this season.
“The football side is where stability is needed. The infrastructure of the club is thriving, the training ground’s there and the commercial side is thriving. It’s just that stability on the pitch. That comes from us as well. The performances haven’t been good enough in the league. “I’m a footballer. I’m not going to say we need this, we need that. I don’t know the ins and outs of all that stuff. What I can say is obviously the football side of it is the part that needs to be sorted because we’re third bottom of the league. At Aberdeen, that’s not acceptable. I feel like we’ve been beating ourselves a lot recently. That’s been the big frustration.
“The next manager will be another fresh start for everyone. Even the boys that maybe haven’t been playing as much, when a new manager comes in and anything can happen so it always tends to bring that fresh buzz around the place.”
Having helped book Aberdeen’s place in the Scottish Cup semi-finals with a typical driving performance and a slightly less typical goal with his right foot, the skipper will miss the game at Hampden through suspension after being booked for dissent late on after being on the receiving end of a late Kilmarnock tackle.
“I don’t know if you’ve seen it, but I put the ball through the guy’s legs and he’s absolutely wiped me out. The referee told me they viewed it on VAR and they didn’t even think it was a foul. It’s out of my hands, but to miss a semi-final from that is devastating.
“All I asked was why that wasn’t a foul? It was the clearest foul in the game. And how VAR can’t deem it a foul is frustrating, so my frustration comes off the back of that decision. I think his problem was the way I ran to him, which is understandable, but I feel like he’s also got to understand that he’s just missed one of the clearest fouls in my opinion. We’re 3-1 up, I should maybe just leave it but it’s hard when emotions are running high, adrenaline’s pumping.”
