McInnes believes his

DEREK McInnes doesn’t need his memory jogged to pluck out the turning point in Aberdeen’s shift in mentality. With the absence of Rangers in the top flight and Motherwell’s claim as best of the rest on the slide, the Pittodrie club were thrust forward as the main contender to be the team best placed to give Celtic a run for their money two years ago. Only a few months into the 2014-15 season, McInnes got an eyeopening and worrying insight into the psyche of some members of his squad. It would prove to be a defining moment in his tenure.

“There were times when maybe in my first year there were still too many in the dressing room that felt losing 1-0 to Celtic wasn’t the worst result,” said the Aberdeen manager ahead of today’s game with Rangers. “I remember the game here against Celtic when [Virgil] van Dijk scored in the last minute [Celtic won 2-1 in November 2014]. The game was 1-1 at the time and I still felt I had too many players on the pitch who thought 1-1 was OK.

“I thought Celtic had more players on the pitch who thought 1-1 was a disaster. While we were the better team in that second half, Celtic still won the game. I made reference to the players at the time that when you’ve got