Aberdeen can continue to thrive under shrewd boss Derek McInnes

While the primary focus in the new Premiership campaign will inevitably be upon Celtic and Rangers, it would be foolish to discount the possibility of Aberdeen again having a significant say in proceedings at the top of the table.

Aberdeen manager Derek McInnes. Picture: Ross Parker/SNS

Derek McInnes, the longest serving manager in the top flight, continues to be underappreciated by many, including a contingent of his own club’s support.

But, as he goes into his seventh full season in charge of the Dons, McInnes appears poised to oversee another progressive campaign which still retains the possibility of Europa League group stage football after Thursday night’s impressive 5-0 demolition of Georgian side Chikhura Sachkhere at Pittodrie. Despite the loss of influential captain Graeme Shinnie and winger Gary Mackay-Steven during the summer, McInnes has once more astutely reshaped a squad which the bookies reckon will comfortably be the best of the rest behind the Old Firm this season.

The notion that managers have a limited shelf life at any club in the modern game is defied by McInnes who has rejected multiple opportunities to move elsewhere in recent years.

He is very much an ideal fit for Aberdeen, something he is smart enough to appreciate, and with him now under contract until 2022, there is nothing to suggest that McInnes and Aberdeen will not continue to be very good for each other.