The Press and Journal (Inverness, Highlands, and Islands)
‘New skip Stewart can lead Dons to brighter future’
Winger Matty Kennedy is confident Anthony Stewart will drive Aberdeen forward in the new season.
Summer signing Stewart, 29, has been confirmed as new club captain.
The centre-back will lead the Dons out in the season opener away to Peterhead in the Premier Sports Cup tomorrow.
Stewart was secured this summer on a two-year deal following the expiration of his contract with League One Wycombe Wanderers.
Kennedy, 27, says despite “big character” Stewart only being at Pittodrie for a few weeks he already felt like the team’s leader.
He said: “Anthony has been brilliant since he came in.
“He’s a big character. I’m sure he’ll push us forward.
“It’s only been a few weeks but you get the feeling he’s a leader already.
“Anthony is always looking for perfection on the training ground.”
Stewart spent 10 seasons at Wycombe and won the League One play-off final at Wembley in 2020.
His final performance was at Wembley in May this year when Wycombe lost the League One playoff final 2-0 to Sunderland.
Stewart was so popular at Wycombe there was an outcry from fans when he left for Aberdeen.
Northern Ireland international Kennedy said: “I played against Wycombe a good few times and they were always horrible games.
“Defensively they were always solid and you never enjoyed playing against them.”
Stewart captained Aberdeen on his debut on Wednesday in the 7-1 friendly defeat of Highland League Brechin City.
He underlined his defensive and captaincy pedigree with an impressive debut.
A few days later Aberdeen boss Jim Goodwin officially confirmed the new skipper would be Stewart.
Midfielder Ross McCrorie has been confirmed as vice-captain.
Kennedy said: “We have a few leaders in the dressing room with the likes of Ross McCrorie as vice-captain and Jonny Hayes, who has been there for years.
“We’ve got a group of four or five captains, which can only be good for the club.
“All the players the gaffer has brought in are all positive people who have slotted in with the lads.”
Kennedy has enjoyed a successful pre-season having netted in two friendies. He scored the late winner in the 2-1 defeat of Highland League Buckie Thistle prior to a week long training camp in Spain.
Then earlier this week he scored in the win at Brechin City.
Now the competitive action will start at Peterhead. It is the first time Aberdeen have been involved in the League Cup group stages since the tournament was revamped. Teams that qualify for Europe are exempt from the group stages.
Kennedy said: “We’d obviously rather be involved in European football but it’s a big competition and we still need to qualify.
“We are where we are and we need to deal with it.
“We have had a good pre-season. It has been tough but it is what was needed.
“Peterhead is a game where we need to be professional and do a job.”
Aberdeen boss Jim Goodwin has made six signings in an ongoing summer transfer window rebuild.
The club have spent close to £1 million in transfer fees in the bid to get the Dons back on track in the upcoming season.
Four of the new signings are available to make their competitive debut against Peterhead at Balmoor.
As well as skipper Stewart summer signings Liam Scales, Kelle Roos and Jayden Richardson are in contention to face Peterhead. Richardson was signed from Nottingham Forest in a £300,000 swoop whilst Roos was a free when his deal with Derby County expired.
Scales arrived on a season long signing from Celtic.
New signings Ylber Ramadani and Bojan Miovski are both unavailable for the Peterhead game due to Brexit red-tape with their visa applications.
Miovski (£535,000) and Ramadani (£100,000) were both secured from Hungarian club MTK Budapest.
Ramadani is set to arrive in Aberdeen on Sunday whilst it is hoped Miovski will arrive within the next 10 to 14 days.
Kennedy believes the Premier Sports Cup offers an ideal chance for the new signings to gel.
He said: “This could be a good thing for the new boys coming in, it gives them games to get used to the surroundings.
“We’d got a few new faces and you can only do so much in training.
“Playing competitive games will help them settle quicker and allow the boys who have been there to get used to how they play.
“Cup football is huge for us so I’m looking forward to it. We need to get the wins and go from there.”