It is not the kind of trophy the Aberdeen supporters crave but manager Derek McInnes believes the Red Army is right to be enthused with the Dons’ start to the season after he picked up the SPFL Premiership manager-of-the-month award for September.
The Reds were unbeaten in the league last month, drawing against St Mirren and defeating Caley Thistle and Partick Thistle, as well as reaching the quarter-finals of the League Cup by demolishing Falkirk 5-0.
It is 14 long years since Aberdeen won anything and McInnes remains grounded yet welcomes the loyal backing from the club’s supporters.
He said: “Why should the supporters not get excited? I am not surprised by that. They have seen a couple of games where it would be easy to get excited and they have seen a couple of performances where they might think there is still a lot of work to do. We need to strive for the ability to show how good we can be on any given day regardless of the opposition.
“Finishing second (in the league) is not the ultimate aim, it is trying to show we are making progress.
“We have been outwith the top six for four seasons, so I think it would be foolish for anyone within my club and certainly for me to say we are going to do this and that. We have shown we are good enough on any given Saturday but what we have not shown yet is the ability to do it over the season. That is what we have to strive for.”
McInnes is only focused on the future and refuses to reflect on Aberdeen’s glittering success in previous years.
He said: “We can’t affect what has happened in the past. We have seen other teams being successful through the league or the cups and we just want to get among it and get a slice of that.
“Whether that comes this season or not, we can strive for it. But it would be foolish to be saying we are going to do this or that as we have only just started. Aberdeen, like a few other teams, will be expected to have some sort of success over a period of time.
“Fourteen years is a long time without reaching a final and you can see there is a lot of frustration from the supporters at times because of that. All we can do is keep them onside with us.”
Aberdeen’s Northern Irish forward Josh Magennis, meanwhile, will undergo exploratory surgery on his knee today. Although he will miss the Dundee United match (on Saturday, October 19), McInnes does not expect the player to be out for too long.