We’ve heard it all before Pedro

Dons will be back better than ever next season says fired-up ace Adam

ADAM ROONEY isn’t exactly shaking in his boots at Pedro Caixinha’s warning his Rangers side will be gunning for them next season.

Instead the Aberdeen striker insists it is the Light Blues who should be worried because the Dons will be even stronger.

Ibrox boss Caixinha this week claimed the Dons’ cycle of success was coming to a natural end with Rangers set to emerge as main title challengers to Celtic next term.

But Rooney has refused to take the bait because he has heard it all before.

Aberdeen were told at the start of the season they would be brushed aside with Rangers back in the Premiership.

But they responded by seizing second place for a third year in a row as well as reaching the League and Scottish Cup finals.

Rooney insists Derek McInnes’s Pittodrie side are going nowhere and contrary to Pedro’s pop it’s Rangers who should be concerned about catching them.

The 29-year-old said: “We don’t pay too much attention to what other people say – we never have.

“We have always focused on ourselves and that is something the gaffer is really keen on. We don’t worry about other clubs, we just focus on developing ourselves and getting better as a group.

“We know no matter who we play we have a good chance of winning and hopefully that will lead to success like we’ve had this year.

“We have been the second best in Scotland for the last number of years and that is our aim again this year. We want to finish with as many points as we can and hopefully we can go on to win a cup. If that is the case it will be our most successful season in a number of years.

“I am sure the gaffer will add a number of bodies in the summer.

“Hopefully we can improve and strengthen again next season and we can have an even better season and other teams can start worrying about catching us.”

Rooney admits there has been a lot of noise coming out of Ibrox but doesn’t see Rangers as a different proposition to the rest of Scotland’s top flight. He said: “Because of the club it was expected they would challenge – not just from within but everyone from the media and everyone else expected them to be up challenging as well.

“But Celtic have blown everyone away. People keep asking us about Celtic and Rangers but we don’t worry too much about other teams.

“It is not just Rangers. There are a lot of teams in this league who are looking to improve.

“Hibs have come up and I am sure they will strengthen. Hearts will try to improve and the likes of St Johnstone and Partick have had good seasons.

“It is not just Rangers we have to worry about but we want to

MICHAEL GANNON