ANDREW Considine feels Aberdeen have come full circle to having as strong a squad as they have ever had during his 400 appearances for the club.
The defender reached the landmark during last Saturday’s victory over Ross County, which saw Stevie May make his debut alongside summer signings such as Ryan Christie, Gary Mackay-Steven and Greg Stewart.
Considine played with the likes of Russell Anderson, Scott Severin, Barry Nicholson and Lee Miller during his early years and helped the Dons reach the knockout stages of the Uefa Cup, where they held Bayern Munich at Pittodrie.
And he feels optimistic as Derek McInnes’ side look to continue their 100 per cent start to the Premiership season against Dundee.
The 30-year-old said: “The squad we had when Jimmy Calderwood was here when we got into Europe, just before our run in Europe, was very strong. We had a number of internatlonalists in our squad at the time, Scottish internationalists. It was a very, very strong squad.
“But we have almost built it back up again. There is a lot of experience and some great youth in the squad.
“I would say it’s definitely up there with one of the strongest I have been involved in.”
On his own achievement, the versatile defender added: “It’s an absolute honour to be in amongst such names as Bobby Clark, Jim Leighton, Willie Miller, Alex McLeish, Russell Anderson. It’s fantastic.
“As a young boy to think I’d have reached this kind of milestone and be up there with those kind of names, it’s a dream come true.”
Considine has been thinking a lot about Calderwood this week after the 62-year-old former Pittodrie manager revealed he had been diagnosed with young onset Alzheimer’s Disease.
“It’s an awful thing,” Considine said. “My thoughts go out to him and his family. I played a lot of my early days under Jimmy so I have a lot to thank him for. I hope he’s getting well looked after and he is doing all right.”
Why are you making commenting on The National only available to subscribers?
We know there are thousands of National readers who want to debate, argue and go back and forth in the comments section of our stories. We’ve got the most informed readers in Scotland, asking each other the big questions about the future of our country.
Unfortunately, though, these important debates are being spoiled by a vocal minority of trolls who aren’t really interested in the issues, try to derail the conversations, register under fake names, and post vile abuse.
So that’s why we’ve decided to make the ability to comment only available to our paying subscribers. That way, all the trolls who post abuse on our website will have to pay if they want to join the debate – and risk a permanent ban from the account that they subscribe with.
The conversation will go back to what it should be about – people who care passionately about the issues, but disagree constructively on what we should do about them. Let’s get that debate started!
Callum Baird, Editor of The National
Comments: Our rules
We want our comments to be a lively and valuable part of our community - a place where readers can debate and engage with the most important local issues. The ability to comment on our stories is a privilege, not a right, however, and that privilege may be withdrawn if it is abused or misused.
Please report any comments that break our rules.
Read the rules here