HOW THEY STAND

top table of Scottish football. We want to actually get into European football regularly.

“If we get the next five years right, this club is a massive club, an epic name. We want to get it back to where it deserves to be, where we want it to be.

“Brief disappointment now (with the pace of appointing a new manager) could set the next five years down a fantastic path. If we get that appointment wrong we risk jeopardising that future.

“The last thing we want is for the other guys across town to get further away from us. We want to close the gap. We don’t want that gap to get bigger. The disappointment fans feel now will be critical in that.”

Murty and the players currently under his command faced the full fury of those supporters at Dens Park last Friday night when they trooped off the pitch following an abject display in losing 2-1 to Dundee.

It was Murty’s fourth defeat in ten matches over his two spells as caretaker boss. He had no complaints about the reaction and has challenged the players to bounce back in the Premiership double-header against Aberdeen at Ibrox tonight and Pittodrie on Sunday.

“You have to be big enough to take it,” he said. “We all love getting plaudits, we got nice stuff at Celtic Park last season, nice stuff at Murrayfield recently, loads of pats on the back. So if you are going to take those, you have to be big enough to take some stick when it comes your way. If you can’t take it on the chin, you might not be here for very long.

“I don’t blame the fans. It’s human nature. It’s just raw emotion and you can’t judge anyone for their emotional state because you can’t control your emotions generally. All it was was them venting their emotions, you have to understand that. We were feeling the same, but we have to make sure we move past that, stop it being destructive and translate that into a performance. I said to the players we need to come together as a team and lift the team. Give them something to cheer about rather than shout about.

“The players have an opportunity moved on in the summer.” Jack was sent off in the corresponding fixture last year and missed the last meeting between the teams in May when Ryan Christie scored the winner to give Aberdeen a first victory in 26 years at Ibrox. Mcinnes would like nothing better than to register back-to-