Neil another big club to add to the CV, what was your reaction when the offer came to join Aberdeen?

“I am delighted to be able to still be in a wee bit of demand at my age. I am very grateful to the manager for giving me the opportunity to come to such a big club.”

Are you hopeful of getting the number one spot this season?

“I think there is a battle at any club for the number one jersey. That is the way it should be. There is a battle for every jersey. You are never guaranteed to start at any club in any position. I don’t think I’ve got anything to prove, I’ve been about for a while now and have had a couple good seasons. I’m just going to go out and do what I do and hopefully that will be enough to convince the manager to give me the starting place.”

The Manager spoke about your experience and how much will that count for Aberdeen given the season they have ahead with European football and trying to challenge again at the top end of the table?

“Well I would like to think that is one of the reasons he brought me in because of my experience and hopefully I can offer the team and the people around me some advice and help the boys through situations that a less experienced goalkeeper might not be able to do. I like to think I bring a lot to the team and the dressing room and that’s maybe one of the reasons the manager brought me in.”

How do you feel you have settled in so far?

“Well, really well. The boys have been fantastic, the coaching staff have been great and made me feel very welcome, training has been hard, but enjoyable. It’s good to be back and getting the gloves on again. It’s a quick turnaround, short summer and we are back into competitive games very shortly so we are trying to cram in 3 or 4 weeks of pre-season into 2 weeks before our first competitive game. But it’s really good and I’m enjoying it, good bunch of lads and enjoy being here.”

“I’m focused on Aberdeen now that’s what I want to concentrate on in the future.”

How many years do you give yourself left in terms of your playing career?

“I just give it a year at a time and see how I feel. I’ve said before my body will tell me when it’s time to call it a day. Just now I feel good. Hopefully that remains the case next season and I feel like I can go again because obviously I want to play as long as I can. Everyone says don’t retire too soon because you are a long time retired and I firmly believe that. I also believe that I’ve got a good two years possibly three left at some level so as long as I am enjoying it and the body feels good I’ll keep going.”

What do you hope to achieve at Aberdeen?

“Success. I’ll try and do as well as I can and help the team to challenge for the league and every cup. That’s all you can do really in any competition you are in try and win it and every game. If I can bring something to the team which will help them achieve things then that’s great for me and great for the manager.

Aberdeen have a lot of great youngsters at the club, I guess your experience will come in very handy there as well and help to nurture the young lads along?

“Yes, I had a similar role at Hearts and we had a very young squad and that’s what the manager wanted to do at Hearts, bring on the young kids and they had young keeper Jack Hamilton. He’s came on leaps and bounds in the last few years and I was really proud of the work I did there. I’ve got young Danny Rogers here at Aberdeen and a few other young boys so hopefully I can help them and they can learn and in the next year or so they are stepping forward and improving.

The Premiership should be a cracker next season shouldn’t it?

“Yes, it should be a great league I’m really really excited for it and glad I can still remain in the Premiership. It could have been quite easy for me to drop down a division or go down to England or something, but I am really pleased that I am still going to be in the top division in Scotland and it is going to be a really exciting league this year.

Are you confident with it being a stronger league Aberdeen can still maintain a challenge?

“I’d like to think so. They’ve had two really good seasons. The manager has done really well. There’s a good bunch of lads, if we can improve in one or two areas I think it’s only going to make us stronger and we should be able to compete in all areas next year.”

And getting into the group stage of the Europa League would be a realistic target?

“Yes I think it is a realistic target. It has been a very good draw without knowing too much about them, but in terms of location it isn’t too far to travel so it seems a good opening round draw so we are really happy with that. We will take it one game at a time as the old saying goes. We will try and take care of the first round before look ahead to the second. Our aim is to get into the group stages, but it is a long way away yet.”