I attempted to show him his importance by making him captain

‘I don’t know if there has been a shift, but there has been a gradual build-up over time since the manager has come in here.

‘That’s the direction we’ve been moving in.

‘He’s been wanting to build a strong team, he’s been wanting to challenge, he’s been wanting to win trophies and he’s been wanting to get better and better and I think we’ve done that.

‘We’ve managed to keep a hold of him. He turned down Sunderland in the summer and we’re still doing well and we’re still sitting second having lost just two games in the league.

‘There’s still a lot to come from this team. Aberdeen have been there for the last three of four years now, we’ve shown that we’re a force and we’re hopefully not going anywhere for a long time.’

‘From a player’s point of view, they will see this as an opportunity to try to get everybody on side again,’ he said.

‘A good win against Aberdeen will go a long way to doing that. There is no doubt Rangers have good players and they represent one of the toughest challenges.

‘They don’t lose many games at Ibrox and their home record over the last few seasons has been very strong. Whether we are playing a team full of confidence or lacking in confidence, we just have to make sure we concentrate on our own performance.’

Aberdeen last travelled to Ibrox in May when goals from Graeme Shinnie and Ryan Christie secured their first victory in Govan in 26 years.

Winning again tonight would not only see them register back-to-back successes there for the first time since 1988 but open up a nine-point gap on Rangers with a chance to extend that to 12 on Sunday.

‘It was over 20 years since the last Aberdeen victory at Ibrox and that was such a damning stat,’ added McInnes.

‘Our current team has only gone there twice — we have won one and lost one. It was important we managed to win so people don’t really talk about it, so we have to take the positives from that performance.’

With two dropped points against Hamilton and then defeat at home to Motherwell, there was a growing sense that speculation around McInnes’ future was affecting matters on to the pitch.

But a dominant win at Rugby Park last Sunday showed they are back on track again.

For veteran defender Mark Reynolds, the biggest positive has been keeping hold of the manager.

Having turned down the poisoned chalice at Sunderland in the summer and now appearing content to resist any overtures from Rangers, Reynolds believes Aberdeen will continue to improve under McInnes.

Brought in from Sheffield Wednesday by Craig Brown in 2012, the 30-year-old defender has witnessed a huge transformation in the club’s fortunes under his stewardship.

The experienced defender has seen the club go from bottom six strugglers when McInnes first arrived from Bristol City in 2013 to their current position where they are favourites to finish runners-up in the division for a fourth successive season.

With Rangers and Hibernian looking to bridge the gap at the top, it is a challenge that might be getting tougher but Reynolds is convinced they will rise to it with McInnes at the helm.

‘It’s going to be tough but we secured second place last year and I think we’ve got that target on our back but we’ll try and do it again,’ he said.