The Stephen Glass era will officially get under way on Tuesday but Lewis Ferguson believes his new manager is not interested in a honeymoon period.
Glass arrived in Scotland a week ago, but must complete a Covid-enforced quarantine before he can get down to work next week.
However, the new Dons boss has wasted little time in getting to know his players and midfielder Ferguson is already feeling excited about working with his new manager.
He said: “I spoke to him briefly over the phone the other day. I think the other boys have spoken to him as well.
“I spoke to him for 10 or 15 minutes and we chatted about football, how it has been and how he sees things going forward. It was very positive and we are looking forward to getting him in.
“He chatted to me about the games recently and how I have felt in the game. He spoke about the rest of this season and next season and we really need to knuckle down over these last five games because they are massive for us.
“If we want to go on and achieve that third spot then we are going to need to win most of the games and hope other results go our way.
“We need to focus on this season before we start thinking about the next.”
The wait to work with Glass, who was appointed more than two weeks ago, has been a surreal experience of the first team squad, but Ferguson believes everyone is already eager to impress their manager even though he is watching from afar.
He said: “It is pretty strange. We know he has been watching and he will be watching even closer this weekend as well as at last weekend’s game.
“The team know he will be keeping a close eye on us and we need to go and perform for ourselves and for him and to try to impress, so when he does come in he has a good understanding of what we are all about.”
One area where Ferguson knows everyone can attract their new manager’s attention is in front of goal.
Callum Hendry’s goal in the 1-0 win at Dumbarton in the Scottish Cup last weekend was only the second goal scored by the Dons in the last 11 matches.
Hendry, who also got the other goal, is ineligible against his parent club St Johnstone at McDiarmid Park today due to the conditions of his loan deal and Ferguson knows how important it is the rest of the team makes a contribution in front of goal.
He said: “We have struggled trying to hit the back of the net recently.
“Our build up play has been pretty good but we have been struggling with that last bit of the puzzle in the final third.
“Whether it is the final pass or hitting the target we have really struggled. The longer games go on and we haven’t scored we start to get a bit more nervous and it eats away.
“We need to put that to the side, keep working on our build-up play and hopefully the goals will come.
“We just need to be a bit more calm and composed in the final third.”
Ferguson has the distinction of the being the leading goalscorer at Pittodrie with eight goals in the Premiership so far this season, but he has not scored since October 25 when he netted twice in the 3-3 draw with Celtic.
He knows that statistic needs to improve.
Ferguson said: “I was really enjoying it, I was scoring goals and we were playing well.
“It is difficult and at times you need one to come off your backside, but unfortunately it hasn’t happened.
“I’ve not had many chances apart from the one at the weekend where the goalkeeper has made a brilliant save.
“There have been a few here and there, where I should have scored, but you need little things to go your way.
“I need to get back on the scoresheet after such a long run.”