Roo vows to woo Del into staying

ADAM Rooney is hopeful Aberdeen’s red-hot form will convince boss Derek McInnes to snub any approach from Rangers.

Former Gers midfielder McInnes is one of the bookmakers’ favourites to take over from Mark Warburton at Ibrox.

And the odds on him are set to shorten following his side’s 7-2 triumph over Motherwell at Pittodrie on Wednesday night.

The win was the Dons’ eighth in nine competitive outings and sent them three points ahead of Rangers in second spot in the Premiership table.

But Rooney, who bagged a hat-trick in the midweek victory, is optimistic that if Aberdeen keep performing well it will make McInnes want to stay.

“We’re doing our best to keep him, aren’t we?” he said. “I think there’s been 18 managers linked with that job [at Rangers]. We don’t focus on that, we focus on ourselves.

“We know the gaffer really enjoys it here, as do the players. I think you can see that from the number of players who’ve signed new contracts. It’s a good place to be and hopefully we can keep building.”

Rooney believes Aberdeen, who take on Kilmarnock at Rugby Park tomorrow, can maintain their hot streak thanks to the competition for places which now exists in the squad at Pittodrie.

He revealed that McInnes had threatened to drop him for the visit of Motherwell due to the form of both Jayden Stockley and Miles Storey in training.

Ryan Christie, the Scottish Football Writers’ Young Player of the Year in 2015, has joined on loan from Celtic until the end of the season and netted a sublime goal in what was his first start for Aberdeen.

“The manager has stuck with the same side over the last eight or nine games, but on Wednesday night he had to leave [Graeme] Shinnie out,” he said. “Maybe that’s the secret, get him out. Seriously, though, Jayden has been excellent when he’s come on and Ryan came in and did brilliantly.

“That’s what we need. It’s going to be a long haul until the end of the season and we’ve a lot of games. We need people fighting for positions and if it brings out performances then brilliant.”