STRAIGHT BACK

Jack has not had his troubles to seek this season and now he returns to Pittodrie...

“It’s not about me and it’s not about Rangers and Aberdeen — Scotland” it’s about

RYAN JACK will be wearing a darker shade of blue than initially expected when he makes his first return to Pittodrie. It remains to be seen how much that lightens the mood of the Aberdonian public.

A Scotland call-up for tomorrow evening’s friendly with Holland will take the 25-year-old back to the ground he called home prior to a much-debated summer move to Rangers.

Needless to say, it was a decision that dimmed his popularity in the Granite City.

Given the rivalry at play, those who switch from Aberdeen to Ibrox tend to face a backlash.

In Jack’s case, the move came after Dons manager Derek McInnes claimed he had been assured the player would not be moving to Glasgow’s south side. The midfielder was subsequently stripped of the captaincy for the Scottish Cup final, although McInnes later insisted he bore ‘no animosity’ about him eventually ending up at Rangers.

While it will be national service that takes Jack to the north east, it would seem reasonable to assume a fair chunk of the crowd will have loyalty towards his old employers.

Even so, the Tillydrone-raised player doesn’t have any concerns about the reception he might receive.

‘No, not at all,’ said Jack. ‘I’d been with Aberdeen since I was eight years old and played 250 games for them.

‘It’s a great club and all my family and friends are still based up there, so I’m looking forward to having them at the game.

‘I have been up (to Aberdeen) a couple of times to see family and friends and there were no issues. It was fine.

‘It’s not about me and it’s not about Rangers and Aberdeen. It’s about Scotland and about the team. I am just focusing on giving it my best shot if I get called upon to play.’

Jack is expected to do so against Holland at right-back, ironically the position he often filled before McInnes decided he was better equipped as a central midfielder.

That has remained his role at Rangers. Otherwise, though, this has been a season of plentiful drama and change.

Jack has been sent off three times, but had two of those decisions overturned on appeal.

The most recent incident came on the evening Pedro Caixinha’s reign ended amid chaotic circumstances.

Already 1-0 up at home to Kilmarnock, Rangers were awarded a 90th-minute penalty. However, Jack became involved in an altercation with Kirk Broadfoot before it could be taken.

The veteran defender toppled to the turf claiming he had been struck in the face. Out came the red card.

An SFA panel subsequently downgraded Jack’s offence to a booking but that was of little consolation given how events unfolded.

Daniel Candeias missed the spotkick and Kilmarnock raced down the pitch to equalise. Caixinha was fired the following day.

‘I don’t think anyone realises how much something like that affects you as a football player,’ said Jack, reflecting on that dismissal.

‘It is all about what you do on the pitch and so you’ve got to take the criticism when it comes in the aftermath. Everyone is going to have an opinion on the game and my sending-off.

‘It was a difficult night, of course it was. It was one of those nights when I went back home and lay on my bed without getting any sleep because you can’t quite believe what happened. It’s about having the right people around you and moving on.

‘When I got back into the dressing room, I felt frustration and disappointment that I allowed things to boil over, which meant I put myself in that position to make the referee make a decision.

‘Of course, I didn’t know what was happening on the park. We were 1-0 up and had a penalty, so I thought that was the game done.

‘A few of the boys then came in looking disappointed and it was then I knew we had drawn the game. So it made the night even worse.’

A red card against Hibernian was also overturned, leaving the two bookings Jack received against Hamilton as his only verified dismissal.

Even so, he accepts he needs to have a longer fuse.

‘I don’t want to say too much,’ he admitted. ‘It’s happened, I’m trying to deal with that side of it, to deal with things better.

‘Hopefully all that is in the past, I can keep my discipline from now on and move forward. ‘Things weren’t going too well, it was a difficult time, we weren’t getting results and everything then looks a wee bit worse than it actually is.

‘But I need to put that behind me. I’ve stayed on the pitch for the last two games, so that’s been a bonus!’

Those wins have been achieved under the interim leadership of Graeme Murty after the exit of the man who signed Jack this summer.

‘There’s no denying it’s been eventful, especially with the change of manager,’ he added.

‘It’s never nice to see anyone lose their job and Pedro was the man who brought me to the club. But that’s football and now it’s just about looking forward.

‘It was tough for Pedro but there was no hiding from the fact that the results weren’t good enough for where we wanted to be and, as players, we had to hold our hands up and admit that maybe we hadn’t been good enough.’

The chance of a first senior Scotland cap provides a different outlet. With Scotland not overburdened by right-back options, Jack could stake a longer-term claim by thriving in his old role.

‘Playing at right-back won’t faze me,’ he insisted. ‘I played 18 or 19 games there for the Under-21s and I also had a few club games in that position.

‘You would play anywhere just to pull on that jersey for your country.

‘It was Craig Brown who used me more as a full-back at Aberdeen but Derek McInnes changed all that.

‘That was down to the way he wanted to set the team up — other managers may have seen it differently. I’m always openminded about these things.’