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.

Aberdeen goalkeeper Joe Lewis puts future of the club in safe hands after signing five-year deal

New Aberdeen captain Joe Lewis.
New Aberdeen captain Joe Lewis.

Committing the next five years of his career to Aberdeen shows Joe Lewis is here for keeps.

But he would not make such a pledge if he did not believe the future of the club was in safe hands.

With an extensive summer rebuild on the agenda, Lewis has complete faith in manager Derek McInnes and the board to invest in the squad and ensure standards do not drop. Graeme Shinnie and Gary Mackay-Steven are bound for the exit door, while five loan players will return to their parent clubs.

Signing until 2024 will mean Lewis will see the changes first-hand but it is something that galvanises him, rather than filling him with fear.

He said: “I do think they will as I’ve spoken to people on the board and they’ve said to me that they will back the manager as best as they can. We are not the sort of club that will spend way above our means as that’s not the way to run the business as you end up with serious problems.

Joe Lewis penned a new five-year contract this week.

“But the manager does need to rebuild for sure and when you think about resigning you want your ambitions to be matched by the football club. At the moment the manager has got a bit of recruitment to do as we are losing some quality players in the summer.

“That is always going to be the case here unfortunately but if the players are doing well then the club are doing well which is bound to attract other clubs.

“I back the manager and his staff to bring more key players in as they have done in the past and help us push on as there’s a real challenge from Kilmarnock and the Edinburgh clubs as well as the Old Firm.”

The 31-year-old former England youth goalkeeper has seen his fair share of internal turmoil over his career. He was at Cardiff when they were relegated from the Premier League under the ownership of Vincent Tan, while also playing for Blackpool during the 2014-15 season when they dropped out of the Championship with just four wins and with controversial owners in the Oyston family. Aberdeen has been a blessed change of scenery.

Lewis said: “It’s the best run club I’ve come across. I’ve been at a few different clubs and you get the feeling at certain clubs you’re battling against the owners, or it’s ‘them and us’. They’re trying to make money. The feeling I’ve always had here is everything is geared towards helping get the best players out on the pitch and everyone buys into that.

Aberdeen goalkeeper Joe Lewis in Dubai.

“There’s no real frustration from the playing side that we’re being hampered. We get the best opportunities and we’re really looked after, be it staying away or mid-season trips. I don’t think the club will go out and spend £5 million on a player – that can’t happen at Aberdeen. It can at clubs in England, where the money is incredible. You can’t go away from that otherwise you’re in trouble.

“For a while I always thought it was the norm, when I was in England. You just have to get on with your job. Most players are like that. But it helps when you feel you’ve got the full backing of everyone. Everyone working here is a fan as well, they’re really supportive of the team. I can’t speak highly enough of the club, comparing to where I’ve been it’s streets ahead. That’s part of the reason I wanted to commit my future here.”

The challenge for Lewis over the next five years is to end Aberdeen’s reputation as nearly-men, having made three cup finals without a medal since joining in 2016.

He added: “You don’t want to be remembered for coming second and being known for nearly doing it and nearly winning something. It’s no consolation hearing that ‘they did well and were unlucky’ or that if the referee has made a different decision we would have won something.

“We want to be a team that is remembered for actually winning cups and I want to be remembered as someone who played an important part in making it happen.”