THEY SAY THAT EVERY CLOUD HAS A SILVER LINING, AND THERE’S PROOF OF THAT AT PITTODRIE. IT MIGHT HAVE BEEN A PRETTY GREY SEASON, BUT WE’VE FOUND SOME PRECIOUS METAL AMONGST OUR YOUNG PLAYERS…

In the early part of the season, Jack MacKenzie busied himself cementing a place at left-back before injuries conspired to interrupt him. Then we discovered a young player on the other side of defence called Calvin Ramsay. He wasted no time in establishing himself in the Aberdeen team, creating goals from seemingly every set play and generally tearing up every pitch in Scotland with his performances.

Any club would feel that its academy has had a pretty good season if they produce just one fresh first team regular per year from their ranks.

Having two, like Jack and Calvin, was already pretty special.

And then Connor Barron turned up.

Never out of the first team since he made his full debut against St Johnstone in mid-February, the 19-year-old plays like somebody with 80 Aberdeen games behind him, not the eight starts he’s amassed thus far. That said, he’s been with the Dons so long, he’s nearly due a testimonial…

“I think I was six or seven when I started at Aberdeen. I came into the pre-academy and then I had a bit of involvement with the teams a year or two above me. That would have been the U10s and then I worked my way up from there.

“My first coach was Jim Crawford who ran the skill centres. He would work solely on improving technical skills. The work he did was all about dominating in 1v1 situations.

“I don’t think Jim, who I know in still involved with the academy, has ever got the credit he deserves. Quite a number of the boys who came in full time started with Jim, including Calvin and myself. He was absolutely class for me and really helped me as a player to get to where I am today.

“I carried on his work throughout the academy, working on the skills that he had taught me and working with the cones, trying to do fast feet exercises and that kind of thing. With Jim technique was the key focus, nothing else. I owe Jim and all the youth coaches who have helped me on my journey a lot.

“I was really small when I was younger, but I did not think anything of it at all – I still don’t really. It has always made me think that little bit quicker, because I was not able to get into a battle and push off boys. It made me that little bit sharper so I could get away from opponents when I was younger, and it’s still the same today.

“My size was never an issue for me. Aberdeen have always been great with me in that sense. At some clubs, they won’t push players up the age grades if they are physically not ready but that is not the case here. If you are good enough, you are old enough. They were always eager to put me on to the next age group to see how I could get on.

“Maybe a couple of times they pushed me on thinking it was a step too far and I would not manage it, but I believe in my ability. I always felt I did better when I had more of a challenge on my hands, because I had a point to prove. That attitude has stuck with me all the way through.

“It was a challenge to play in the lower leagues because you do get some managers at clubs down there who maybe want a big midfielder to go in and smash people and play it long, and they don’t really look at the player himself and see what he does when he’s got the ball and when he doesn’t.

“I have had that a couple of times, when teams wanted someone bigger, but that is just football, people have their different opinions and different ways of playing the game. I just focus on myself. If someone does not believe in me, I just get on with it. I know what I can do and what I can bring to the team.”

It has long been a principle of Aberdeen’s academy that, whenever possible, they like to play the youngsters in an older age group. Having experienced that, it’s a policy that Connor is right behind.

“Pushing players up a level or two is definitely the way to go and the right policy that they have within the youth academy. It is the same with players going out on loan. You could be playing for the U18s and be the best player every week, and that might be the right thing for some players, but going out and getting games against better players, older players, more experienced players, you are picking up more.

“Even training with your loan team, you are around different people and you can pick up different things from different players because a lot of these guys in the lower leagues have had decent careers.

“The pathway for young players is not always the same though and you have to take each player individually. Some go from U18s straight into the first team squad. For others, it is about going out on loan and proving yourself and showing people what you can do and showing that you can compete at that level. Once you do that, then you get the recognition for it.

“I didn’t really play reserve football so it is difficult for me to say if that is the right way to go. But without the reserve league now the gap from U18s to first team is very big, so the loan side was a massive help for me.

“Going down there to Kelty, I knew that the aim was to win the league. That is why I wanted to go there, to win games and I knew they wanted to play good football and get the ball on the deck so it really suited my game.”

Other notable loanees this season include Kieran Ngwenya, who stayed on to help Kelty win the Scottish League Two title. Ryan Duncan has scored goals at Peterhead in League One and Evan Towler has been outstanding in defence for Eglin City, helping them climb the League Two table in recent months.

“Evan, Ryan and Kieran have all done really well, they still train at Cormack Park during the week, and I can see a difference in them. They are all improving. It will be interesting to see if they can make the breakthrough next season. And if not, another year on loan is not going to do them any harm. That is what I had to do. I came back from Brechin and at that time, I felt I was ready to come back into the first team squad but if you have to go out and do it again the way I did, then so be it.”

Mentality is every bit as big a part of the game as physicality, so watch Connor is a very interesting study in the way a player has to adapt his personality once he gets on the pitch. Off the pitch, Connor is a quiet, polite young lad but on it, he’s a winner.

“Off the pitch I’m quite calm. I make sure I do all my jobs and help the kitmen. I get about the boys and I speak to them all, I like a good laugh and all that. But throughout the years, I’ve always been one of the leaders and captains in the team, right from when I was young, all the way through. And I’ve always said to myself that when I break into a first team, or when I get that opportunity, that that’s not going to change.

“I remember my first day of training with a first team a couple of years back, the first thing that I got feedback about was that I was up there, and I was demanding things off the other, senior players. I think that you get that authority and respect off the boys when you’re doing that. You can obviously go over the line and go a bit too far. But for me, if I’m not communicating and being that leader when I’m out there and battling away, I don’t feel I get the best out of myself. So when I go on the pitch, I just flip a switch and I am on game mode.

“It has been great so far for me personally. I have enjoyed every minute of it. I feel that I have done well in there. I just have to keep going. I must not forget what got me here because that is what I have to keep on doing. I have worked hard to get to where I am today. But the hard work does not stop. I have to keep working hard every day in training and be the best I can be in every game.

“There are always areas where I feel I can get better and I know I can do a lot more on the pitch. I am very self critical after games when I watch them back. I think to myself that I could do this or that differently when I am in that situation next time. It is all about trying to get the best out of myself.

“After training every day, I try to do a little bit of extra work, just to make sure I am ticking over and making myself better. Because it’s one thing getting into the first team but the biggest thing is that you’ve got to then keep your place. If you’re not performing every day or looking at getting better as a young player, then that opportunity just goes away and somebody else comes in and takes your place off you.

“I know I still have a lot more to show on the pitch. I want to keep improving, keep learning from the other players, keep taking information off the manager, the coaches and the more experienced boys and take it all on board. And push on from there. So it is great to be in the position I am in at the moment but the hard work does not stop. I need to continue to do impress. I know that I have a lot more to show.

“I want to go and establish myself fully in the team for the rest of this season and then be there again for the first game next season and take it from there. I’m just going to have the same attitude because next season, anything can happen, you’ve just got to keep working hard and keep yourself grounded. As I said, you can be out of the team just as quickly as you got in it. So for me, I want to have another good preseason and see what happens from there and make sure that I have got that shirt for the first game of the 2022/23 season and then keep it.

“I worked right through last summer. I’m not one for days off and stuff like that. I just get bored sitting at home and I am champing at the bit to do something. We’re going to try and get a week away with the boys, then there’s Scotland U21 games coming up at the start of June, so I’ll maybe get two weeks off and then that’ll be me back in again.

“You have to set high standards and learn from every game. I always remember one bit of advice that Kevin Thomson gave me when I was on loan at Kelty. It was after maybe two or three games and he came up to me and he just said, “If you’d scored with that chance you had, then we go and win the game comfortably instead of drawing. And ever since then, it’s just stuck with me. You’ve got to take your chances when they come along. You have to be clinical at the top level.

“It’s the same for us as a team, especially at Pittodrie when teams come here and just sit in. At the moment I’m playing in bit more of a deeper role which I’ve really enjoyed, but you can see the way teams drop so deep against us. But when I get on the ball, I’m always trying to create something at the right times and take that chance if it’s on. That’s just the type of player I am. I feel if you don’t go for those passes, the game just passes you by. We’ve got to go and be creative in that final third and try and make things happen for the team.”

Lest we forget, there are still four games and 12 points to play for this term, but then thoughts will turn to 2022/23 and Jim Goodwin’s first full season at the helm.

“I’m excited about being part of a new era here but firstly, it’s very important that we finish the season strong and push up the table as high as we can. But I’m looking forward to the finish of the season, then going and pushing on next season and making it a much better campaign for everyone involved with Aberdeen FC.”