FRAME GAME
Shinnie’s Caley shirt’s going up on wall but he wants Dons top to go alongside it
GRAEME SHINNIE’S Scottish Cup-winning Inverness shirt is still in the framing shop waiting to be collected.
But the new Aberdeen skipper is prepared to hold off another few days as he’s hoping to land two for the price of one.
It’s been two years since Shinnie led Caley Thistle to their historic major trophy win when they lifted the Scottish Cup after beating Falkirk in 2015.
It was the proudest moment in his career to date but the Dons midfielder hasn’t had the chance to pick up the jersey to stick on his wall.
He’s going to make time soon but he’s hoping to add a red strip to his collection by leading the Pittodrie men to glory at Hampden this afternoon.
Shinnie said: “My strip from the 2015 final has been sitting in a shop in Aberdeen for the last two years. I wanted it framed and Ryan Esson knows someone so I sent it to him but haven’t picked it up yet.
“Hopefully I’ll be going to him with another one so he can do me a buy one get one free.
“There isn’t any real reason I haven’t picked it up, I’ve just never got round to it.
“Ryan Esson got all the boys to sign it for me and sorted it out for me but I’ve just never been there to get it.
“The guy who owns the shop is a big Aberdeen fan and comes to all the games so I see him all the time. He’s always asking me when I’ll be in for it and I tell him, ‘I’ll be in next week’ but I keep forgetting about it.
“That has pretty much been going on for two years. I really need to go in so hopefully I’ll be heading there next week.
“Mind you I’d probably be superstitious and leave it there for two years just to see what happens!
“Young Scotty Wright is wanting to get his top from the Partick Thistle game framed so I was thinking about going with him. But I think I’ll just leave it for the time being now.”
Shinnie doesn’t need the strip to remind him of that day in the Hampden sun two years ago.
In recent years he’s seen it every time he’s watched a match on TV.
His beaming smile while holding the trophy aloft has been part of Sky’s pre-match credits montage but he noticed it’s been changed in recent months. It’s time to add a new image. Shinnie said: “I used to see myself lifting the trophy on Sky Sports now and again and every time it was on I’d have pals texting me saying they’d seen my ugly face again.
“But it’s gone now, they changed it at the start of this season so people will be happy I’m not there any more.
“I’ve watched the Final back a few times, it’s good to watch the game and the semi-final.
“Obviously winning silverware is the best feeling in football. If you could bottle up that feeling you’d make millions off it.”
Shinnie has the taste and is hungry for more at Aberdeen. The Dons had a crack at the Betfred Cup last November but the less said about that day the better.
The Pittodrie men froze on the big day as Celtic coasted to victory and they’ve been wiped out in all five meetings this season.
But Shinnie is adamant the agony of the tame defeat will fire up the side for round two.
He said: “It irks us that we haven’t beaten Celtic this season but we have one more chance and it could make it a historic season if we do.
“It’s going to be a massive task but if anyone is going to beat Celtic this season it will be us.” STEVEN PRESSLEY would love to remember a classic final on the day he made Scottish Cup history in 2007.
But instead the former Scotland defender insists a day of personal glory was spoiled by an instantly forgettable 90 minutes.
Pressley takes pride from the fact he became the first – and so far only – player to lift the trophy with three different clubs.
The 43-year-old won his first medal as part of Rangers’ treble-winners in 1993 and skippered Hearts to glory in 2006.
And just 12 months later he was back up the steps at Hampden to seal the Double with Gordon Strachan’s Celtic.
But the Hoops toiled against Dunfermline, who had been relegated, and Joe Doumbe’s scrappy late winner summed up the game.
Pressley admitted the nature of the victory meant celebrations were subdued compared to the jubilant scenes with Jambos the year before.
Celts have been praised for the style in which they’ve won the Premiership and Betfred Cup this season as they chase a clean sweep at the National Stadium against Aberdeen today.
And Pressley knows how much entertainment means to fans which is why he struggles to look back on the 2007 final with any real pride.
He told Record Sport: “I’m still the only player to have won the Cup with three different clubs – not that I like to talk about it!
“But I’d have preferred to be able to look back on a better game on