Not an Aberdeen huddle just a wee bosie

Aberdeen players get together before the Partick Thistle match. Picture: SNS

The Dons won 3-0 at Firhill but some fans were unimpressed with the team’s coming-together before the game, likening it to the huddle made famous by Celtic. However, Langfield revealed the players and manager Derek McInnes believed it would help the young players in their injury-hit team and gave the ritual its own identity by naming it after a Doric word for hug.

Langfield, whose team host Scottish Premiership leaders Inverness today, said: “We had a lot of young players in the team on Saturday and the older boys just thought we would get it right.

“It was just one of these spontaneous thing that’s happened. It has caused some upset but we do not like to call it the huddle. We like to call it the Aberdeen bosie, as I have seen on Twitter. It’s not a huddle, it was a bosie.”

Langfield feels the win over the Jags has boosted confidence in the squad given they were without Chris Clark, Barry Robson, Willo Flood, Russell Anderson and Niall McGinn, with only the latter having a chance of returning against Caley Thistle at Pittodrie. The 33-year-old said: “The manager prior to the game said he believes we have got the players, even if we lose players to injury, and I think that was justified last week. The manager has seen over the last few years we have lost a lot of players through injury and he has built a squad with strength in depth.”

However, Langfield stressed they would face a different proposition in Inverness, who have taken 16 points and four clean sheets from six games. “We know what to expect from Inverness. They are a well-drilled side with a lot of flair players in their team and they have Billy McKay, who scores a good lot of goals this season as well,” he said. “It will be a great game. I don’t think it will be surpassing Terry Butcher’s and Maurice Malpas’s expectations [to be top of the league]. They saw the team they had last year. Terry has them so well organised.

“They are scoring goals and not conceding and that’s a massive thing in this league. They have built on last season and maybe Terry and Maurice have got the bit between their teeth because they just missed out [on Europe] last season and want an even better season for Inverness.”

Langfield’s Inverness opposite number Dean Brill feels the “secluded” nature of the Highlands has helped them focus on their football.

Like the vast majority of his team-mates, Brill moved from England to Inverness and believes their remote new surroundings have helped foster a strong team spirit.

Brill, who is keen to extend his loan deal from Luton beyond January, said: “We are secluded up here. We are quite far away from friends and family, so it’s a much slower lifestyle for people like myself who have moved away from home. My wife travels up every other week or so. I can just concentrate on my football and I think a lot of the boys are like that.

“Because we mingle with each other as well, I think that probably helps us concentrate on football. We are constantly around each other and learning about each other.”

Brill did not know what to expect when he joined the club in the summer but has been pleasantly surprised by their flying start to the season. “Obviously I knew the club did well last year and narrowly missed out on a European place,” the 27-year-old said.

“I didn’t know much about what the football was going to be like. There is not much exposure down south, so I came up with an open mind. I remember saying to friends and family I was looking forward to seeing what the level was like and how it would pan out and it has been fantastic.”

Butcher revealed earlier this week that he was in talks with Luton about extending the loan spell. Brill, who has started every game this season, said: “That’s up to the two clubs to discuss. I am just concentrating on the next game. I am enjoying my football, I enjoy the place to live. I would love to extend my time here.”