Calendar An icon of a desk calendar. Cancel An icon of a circle with a diagonal line across. Caret An icon of a block arrow pointing to the right. Email An icon of a paper envelope. Facebook An icon of the Facebook "f" mark. Google An icon of the Google "G" mark. Linked In An icon of the Linked In "in" mark. Logout An icon representing logout. Profile An icon that resembles human head and shoulders. Telephone An icon of a traditional telephone receiver. Tick An icon of a tick mark. Is Public An icon of a human eye and eyelashes. Is Not Public An icon of a human eye and eyelashes with a diagonal line through it. Pause Icon A two-lined pause icon for stopping interactions. Quote Mark A opening quote mark. Quote Mark A closing quote mark. Arrow An icon of an arrow. Folder An icon of a paper folder. Breaking An icon of an exclamation mark on a circular background. Camera An icon of a digital camera. Caret An icon of a caret arrow. Clock An icon of a clock face. Close An icon of the an X shape. Close Icon An icon used to represent where to interact to collapse or dismiss a component Comment An icon of a speech bubble. Comments An icon of a speech bubble, denoting user comments. Comments An icon of a speech bubble, denoting user comments. Ellipsis An icon of 3 horizontal dots. Envelope An icon of a paper envelope. Facebook An icon of a facebook f logo. Camera An icon of a digital camera. Home An icon of a house. Instagram An icon of the Instagram logo. LinkedIn An icon of the LinkedIn logo. Magnifying Glass An icon of a magnifying glass. Search Icon A magnifying glass icon that is used to represent the function of searching. Menu An icon of 3 horizontal lines. Hamburger Menu Icon An icon used to represent a collapsed menu. Next An icon of an arrow pointing to the right. Notice An explanation mark centred inside a circle. Previous An icon of an arrow pointing to the left. Rating An icon of a star. Tag An icon of a tag. Twitter An icon of the Twitter logo. Video Camera An icon of a video camera shape. Speech Bubble Icon A icon displaying a speech bubble WhatsApp An icon of the WhatsApp logo. Information An icon of an information logo. Plus A mathematical 'plus' symbol. Duration An icon indicating Time. Success Tick An icon of a green tick. Success Tick Timeout An icon of a greyed out success tick. Loading Spinner An icon of a loading spinner. Facebook Messenger An icon of the facebook messenger app logo. Facebook An icon of a facebook f logo. Facebook Messenger An icon of the Twitter app logo. LinkedIn An icon of the LinkedIn logo. WhatsApp Messenger An icon of the Whatsapp messenger app logo. Email An icon of an mail envelope. Copy link A decentered black square over a white square.

McInnes expects Dons title challenge

Aberdeen manager Derek McInnes is expecting a tough encounter with Celtic.
Aberdeen manager Derek McInnes is expecting a tough encounter with Celtic.

Aberdeen are outmatched financially but manager Derek McInnes insists his side can compete with Celtic and Rangers for the Scottish Premiership title this season.

Dons supporters have watched as Celtic have invested millions in their squad this summer, while Rangers have also made major investment in the playing staff at Ibrox.

Aberdeen’s recruitment has been equally busy but far more modest but that will not stop supporters expecting their side to challenge for the championship.

McInnes said: “Rangers and Celtic with the resources they have will always start as firm favourites but we want to be as competitive we can for as long as we can and I believe we can be competitive.

“We’ve given a good account of ourselves in the last two seasons and our title challenge was authentic and real last season. We maintained the challenge that bit longer than the previous season and I’m looking for us to improve this season.

“From the outset Rangers and Celtic are huge favourites due to what they can spend and we’ve seen that recently. Rangers budget in the Championship was three times’ mine and it has increased again.

“The expectations on those clubs to win a league is far more than it is at mine but it doesn’t mean we can’t get in amongst it and fight alongside them and the last two seasons have shown we are capable.

“I face the same expectations every week at my club as the supporters expect a challenge and I think we should expect to be in a position to challenge too.”

The Dons’ title credentials will be put to the test by Partick Thistle at Pittodrie today as McInnes’ side go in search of their first win of the league campaign.

After two goalless draws it is imperative Aberdeen get up and running and McInnes hopes today can be the day a first win is secured but he knows it will not be easy against the Jags.

He said: “Alan Archibald has got a good defensive structure, which restricts the opposition and they had a good result against Inverness in the league.

“The cup-tie loss at Dundee United was very unlike them but they are normally a tough team to break down although we have to be mindful of the attacking threat of Lawless, Erskine, Amoo and Doolan.

“My job is to get the balance right between attacking and defending and hopefully we can do that against Partick.”