Aberdeen defender Scott McKenna says Derek McInnes’ decision to remain at Pittodrie exemplifies how much the dynamics of Scottish football have changed.
McInnes last week turned down the chance to manage Rangers, the club he supported as a boy before spending five years at Ibrox as a player, to stay with the Reds.
The 46-year-old has said it was a decision he made “with my head rather than my heart”.
McKenna, who netted the only goal in Friday’s 1-0 victory against Dundee, believes the Aberdeen manager’s decision to stick with Aberdeen shows how much progress the Dons have made in recent years.
He said: “It just shows how far the club has come in a few seasons.
“The chairman was desperate for the manager and Tony Docherty to stay.
“They have had success here in the past.
“And ultimately that is why they want to stay – because they think there is unfinished business.
“There was obviously uncertainty last week.
“We didn’t know what was happening until late on Thursday.
“We are all really glad they have both stayed and hopefully it will help us for the rest of the season.
“It definitely gave us a boost going into the Dundee match when we knew they weren’t leaving.”
McKenna was pleased his first Aberdeen goal earned the Dons maximum points against Dundee, ending a poor run of form which saw them take only four points from a possible 15.
The young Dons defender said the negative run had nothing to do with the speculation linking McInnes with Rangers.
The 21-year-old added: “I think we as players need to take responsibility.
“Even if there wasn’t any speculation, teams still lose games and go on bad runs.
“We need to admit we weren’t good enough in the last few games, especially against Rangers away and Motherwell at home.
“The performances weren’t acceptable.
“We have had a few difficult results but the manager has stuck by me.
“It is normally easy for a manager to take a young player out of the team and play someone more experienced when results aren’t going well.
“But he stuck by me and I take confidence from that.”