Preview: Kilmarnock v Aberdeen: Craig Brown dismisses talk of renewed Southend move for Rory McArdle

Reports suggest the defender could be reunited with former boss Paul Sturrock, who he played under at Sheffield Wednesday, in a January move. However, as far as Brown is concerned, Sturrock’s interest in McArdle is old news and has not been resurrected so far.

He said: “It must be a quiet week. A year ago or thereabouts, Paul spoke to me about Rory and I told Rory and I told the media because nothing is sacred. I don’t know where it’s come from. It’s a story that must be at least six months old. I spoke to Rory and asked if he’d had any contact with his agent and he said no. Neither have I. At the moment, we’ve got to disregard it because there has been no contact.”

Aberdeen travel to Rugby Park to face Kilmarnock in today’s Clydesdale Bank Premier League clash and Brown admits he has no idea what to expect from their opponents. The Rugby Park side stunned Rangers by inflicting the Scottish champions’ first SPL defeat of the season last weekend but recently slumped to a shock 6-3 loss to bottom side Inverness. Brown said: “Kilmarnock are a very good team and they’re a bit inconsistent.

“They can be brilliant, as we have seen, and they can be ordinary, as Inverness proved. If Inverness can score six there, we must feel confident about scoring but Rangers, the champions, couldn’t score there. That’s what I mean about inconsistency. It’s not a criticism of Kenny Shiels, it’s a fact.”

Meanwhile, Brown hit out at suggestions he is set to drop goalkeeper David Gonzalez following last week’s 3-3 draw with Dunfermline. He said: “I never said I was changing the goalkeeper. I said I would look at the tape and discuss it with the goalkeeping coach and make a decision. I never at any time said that he wasn’t going to play.”

Meanwhile, Cammy Bell insists he was always confident of reclaiming the gloves after making a triumphant return to action for Kilmarnock in last week’s win against Rangers. The goalkeeper was sidelined for around six weeks with an elbow problem, paving the way for second-choice Anssi Jaakkola to enjoy a run of games in his absence.

However, Bell was back between the sticks on Sunday and managed to record a clean sheet as stunned the Scottish champions. And he was delighted manager Shiels took into consideration his previous form when making his team selection.

He said: “The manager spoke to me throughout the whole time I was injured and reassured me. I wasn’t out of the team because of form, I was just unfortunate because of injury.

“Anssi did well when he was in but that’s the decision the manager has to make. Thankfully he picked me and we got the clean sheet and got the win. It was good to get back playing. It was a hard six weeks for me to take. I didn’t think the injury would be so long.

“It took me a while to get back but I was delighted to be back in the team and to get the victory on Sunday.”