Red-hot Jack is ready to put all of his faith in messiah McInnes
RYAN JACK is receptive to joining the ranks of the devoted under Derek McInnes as Aberdeen close in on collating a core of class acts on long-term deals.
The midfielder, named SPFL Player of the Month for December, stressed there is no need for his head to be turned by interest away from Pittodrie while life is so good at his progressive club.
Jack is next on the McInnes tick list to be tied up to a contract. Signed up and settled already are attacking duo Niall McGinn and Adam Rooney, who pledged their peak years to the Premiership league leaders before Christmas.
A further show of forward planning and commitment swiftly followed from Jonny Hayes and Andrew Considine. Promising teenage pair Lawrence Shankland and Scott McKenna, tipped to be first-team regulars by McInnes, also penned new deals.
Jack is fond of trips to watch Manchester United in action with friends and his journeys south are set to remain only fleeting in nature if an arrangement is to be thrashed out on home turf. He has 18 months remaining on the deal he signed when McInnes arrived at Aberdeen in the summer of 2013 and success in securing his services well into his mid-twenties would prove the pivotal piece of business this winter by the club.
‘I’m definitely very happy here, I’m loving it at Aberdeen,’ enthused the 22-year-old. ‘There’s a real buzz about the team and we have a chance to do well this season. So I don’t see any reason to change anything.
‘It’s good for the team knowing there’s going to be that core, that base of players that are staying and tied down.
‘The main thing for me is just to keep playing as well as I can for Aberdeen and see where it takes me.’
The package of pledging the next few years to Aberdeen is enhanced by the fact Jack became a father — to baby daughter Madison — a week before Christmas. On the park, McInnes is convinced Jack’s responsibilities should be to remain a hometown hero for several seasons before cutting the cord with the club he has represented since 2008.
Jack pocketed a League Cup medal last season and recently chalked up 150 appearances for the first team. McInnes wants him to add significantly to that haul before seeking his fortune.
‘We’re not here to have people lauding over my players but it would be naive to think that he and others haven’t been mentioned elsewhere,’ McInnes acknowledged.
‘I recognise — and I think Ryan does — that at some point he will move on. We want him to do that on the back of playing 300 games for us and having won trophies.
‘We want him to leave his mark on his time here and, for me, that time isn’t now. I do believe he will go on to have a top career.
‘He’s happy here, we are happy with him.
‘There is a maturing off the pitch he is dealing with and his life is changing. He has never allowed those changes in circumstances to affect what he has done on the pitch.’
Jack’s baby steps as a first-team Aberdeen player were anything but easy. The growing pains included suffering a 9-0 humiliation at Celtic Park on only his sixth start.
He only knew bottom-six finishes and knockout-tournament failure before McInnes arrived, but the bruises have long since gone.
In the thick of a title race and one more hurdle from a shot at defending their League Cup trophy, Aberdeen have come a long way since his painful introduction to the Pittodrie spotlight.
‘I played in the 9-0 and that was obviously one of the low points,’ he said. ‘But it’s something I can use as motivation for times like now where we’re doing really well. It makes the high points all the sweeter.
‘This is such a big transformation from then. It shows how far the club has come. We’re in the latter stages of cups and doing really well in the league.
‘Under the manager, we just seem to be getting better and better, are full of confidence and getting results. It’s important that we enjoy it.’