Considine: Good times are back to stay at Pittodrie

Andrew Considine reckons the current Aberdeen squad is the most confident he has seen in 10 years.

Considine stepped up from the Dons youth set-up to the first team aged 17 and has experienced more lows than highs in the decade since.

But after joining Adam Rooney, Niall McGinn and Jonny Hayes in committing himself to a new deal at Pittodrie this festive season, the long-serving defender revealed his belief that the good times Derek McInnes has brought to the club are here to stay.

He said: “I feel that with what Derek and assistant manager Tony Docherty are doing here, we’ve got some exciting years ahead.

“With the squad we’ve got, confidence is high, we’re playing good football and winning games.

“I’ve been here since I was 12 and there’s nowhere else I’d want to be. This is as good as it has been in terms of a feel-good factor.

“I’ve seen some pretty bad times here and I’ve seen some good times as well, but I feel that there’s a certain level of consistency now and a real buzz about the squad.

“All the key boys have been signed up again and to keep these guys is great because I’d imagine the worry would be, with the way we’re playing, there would be other teams sniffing around.

“But keeping these boys at Aberdeen can only lead onto good things.”

Like everyone else at Pittodrie, Considine stops short of conceding that one of those “good things” could be a title challenge this season despite sitting top right now

But when it comes to defining what would constitute “success” for Aberdeen in the coming years, the 27-year-old is happier to set targets.

“It would be great to get to another couple of finals,” he said.

“The cup win was a great experience last year so it would be great to replicate that.

“To finish a place higher in the league would be ideal that’s what we’re striving for.

“And regular European football, of course, would be terrific, and to get further than we did this season.

“To get to the group stages in Europe would be great, but we’ll take one game at a time and see how we get on.”

The pragmatic approach has served the Dons well so far under McInnes but it has served Considine well for years.

The recently converted left back’s weekly post-game chats with his dad former Dons defender Doug Considine have contributed massively to his development.

And he revealed his old man’s pride at watching his son star for the club he served during the early days of Sir Alex Ferguson’s reign.

He said: “My dad is the first guy I phone after games and he’s brutally honest, which you’d rather have.

“He played with a team full of internationalists back in the day, so to have him in my corner is brilliant. He tells me what I’ve done wrong and what I’ve done right.

“He’s delighted that I’m still here and playing for the same club that he was a part of.”