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.

Ready, steady, go for Dons – Derek McInnes confident players will be ready for Premiership’s planned kick-off date

Aberdeen manager Derek McInnes.
Aberdeen manager Derek McInnes.

Aberdeen manager Derek McInnes is confident his players will be ready for the new campaign.

The Scottish Government gave Scottish Premiership clubs permission to begin training on June 11 with a view to starting the season on August 1, providing Scotland is in phase two of its route map out of the coronavirus pandemic.

A six to eight-week training plan developed by the SFA and SPFL’s joint response group was presented to the Scottish Government with players set to follow a programme of individual training before building up to smaller groups and then an agreed date to begin full training.

Players will be regularly tested for coronavirus and matches will be played behind closed doors initially but McInnes is satisfied he will be able to get his players to full fitness in time for kick-off.

He said: “We are due to go back training from June 11 and until we are told differently we will work towards that.

“We will come back and work in small numbers and it will give us a better chance to speak to the players.

“It has been a long time without seeing them in the flesh. As diligent and professional as they are, and I know they will have been doing their work, it will be good to have them back and delivering some practices for them.

“Until we are told differently we will continue to work towards the August start.

“If we work to those dates it will give us seven weeks to get ourselves ready.

“We don’t know the parameters, but we know it will be in small numbers initially, when we first go back.

“Hopefully, the situation improves across the country and it helps football get back to some sort of normal practice.”

Alex McLeish, one of Aberdeen’s Gothenburg Greats, was the guest on this week’s Northern Goal podcast. Here’s the trailer:

The Dons earned European qualification for the seventh successive season by finishing fourth last term with the campaign cut short due to the Covid-19 pandemic.

But McInnes admits he has no idea when European competitions will be able to take place next term.

He said: “I can’t see how you can have clubs flying in and out of countries in the current situation. Who knows?

“I am sure it will be getting looked at how the Europa League will be played next season.

“Hopefully, we get the opportunity to compete in it. A lot of the countries are still operating under restrictions.”

McInnes, meanwhile, hopes the return of the Bundesliga in Germany and the imminent return of the English Premier League can act as inspiration for Scottish football in its bid to restart.

He added: “Once we get our head around the fact there are no fans in the stadium, it shows what can be done.

“We know we are not the German League or the English Premier League but we can absolutely learn.

“Why should our supporters and all supporters in Scotland be denied something similar?”