'We want to see how far away we are from Rangers': Aberdeen Ibrox group meeting and what Goodwin said on Van Bronckhorst

By the sounds of it, Jim Goodwin had the mother of all team meetings with his Aberdeen squad on Thursday morning.

Aberdeen manager Jim Goodwin has given his squad the heads -up about the importance to the club's fans of looking to thumbing Rangers' noses in it ahead of their Ibrox visit. (Photo by Mark Scates / SNS Group)

Fitting, perhaps, when the Irishman was plumping his players up for Saturday’s Ibrox trip to face Rangers – or if you prefer, what the Pittodrie punters consider the mother and father of all fixtures for their favourites. Goodwin felt the need to play both chronicler and psychologist to a group largely assembled across the summer. Few, then, have experience of a match-up that stirs enmity in the stands that is only eclipsed by the Glasgow clubs going at it with the clubs about to confront each other for the first time this season. Or, as a result, coping with the Ibrox cauldron. These ingredients poured into the mix for a combustible confrontation aren’t to be strained for Goodwin. Similarly, the fact that while Aberdeen currently are in their finest fettle of the campaign. Giovanni van Bronckhorst’s men are enduring wobbles. Wobbles that, in the eyes of the Rangers dissaffected, would leave the Dutchman teetering if the team in red leave them blushing at the weekend.

"Historically, there is a lot of emotion involved in the fixture,” said Aberdeen manager Goodwin. “In our group meeting this morning, we made our players aware of what the fixture means to the fans. We emphasised that it’s almost going to be like a derby game. There’s a hell of a lot on the line, and not just the three points but the bragging rights for the supporters. But from our own point of view, as players and staff, we want to see where we’re at. We want to see how far away we are from Rangers and see if we are we capable of going there, a really difficult venue, giving a good account of ourselves and coming away with a positive result. If we can go there and get all three, happy days. But if we go and get a point it’s not the end of the world. We’ve got a lot of new players and a lot of boys from outwith Scotland that needed told of the importance of this fixture to the fans.

“Most of the guys will be excited going to such a historic venue. The reason why some of them have come to Scotland is to test themselves against international quality players and play at top stadiums. They will be excited and I don’t think they will be overawed and there is no fear factor. Most of them haven’t played there at all and we tried to explain to them what to expect. We played some clips and said the atmosphere was always intense but we have to use that to our advantage. We can’t allow Rangers any rhythm and have to try to make the fans' anxiety creep onto the pitch and hope that will have a negative impact.”

In the aftermath of Hibs’ 6-1 horsing by Celtic in Glasgow the other week, Lee Johnston despaired that the aura surrounding Scotland’s big two meant opposition players too often resigned themselves to failing before they stepped out on to the field. Goodwin agrees there is work required on that front for the rest of Scottish football – and he has engaged in it this week. “That was part of our group meeting this morning where we spoke about the venue and the badge,” he said. “We spoke about how teams sometimes go into those types of games with a defeatist mindset. That is something we are trying to change here. We don’t want the players ever going into a game not believing that they have a chance of winning. The guys are feeling very good about themselves and there is a lot of confidence within the group. A lot of the time in life and in sport it comes down to mindset. Some people have already lost the game before they get there. However, our guys are in a great place. I think there is a real air of positivity and excitement. I don’t sense any nerves or any anxiety. There are guys in the dressing room who want to go and test themselves against the best teams in the county. Right now Celtic and Rangers are the top two teams and we want to go and see how far away we are from bridging that gap. This Saturday gives us a great opportunity to do that.”

The anxiety is more likely to be felt in the home ranks. And Goodwin understands that. Not that he is of a mind to speculate on just how much trouble he could stir up for van Bronckhorst were he to pilot Aberdeen to a first win at Ibrox in three-and-a-half years. “I try not to get too caught up about the opposition,” he said. “[But] by Gio’s own admission, Rangers are not on a particularly great run of form. They have been picking up results. They ground out the win at Fir Park. In the home game against Dundee, I think everyone was a little bit surprised they only scored one in front of their own crowd. Then they obviously relied on a last-minute equaliser against Livingston last weekend. t’s not what you would expect from Rangers historically, so they are going through a bit of a difficult period right now. And obviously the Champions League hasn’t gone the way they would have liked. We need to try and focus on the good things from Aberdeen’s perspective. We have been playing well, we have won our last three and are scoring a lot of goals. Only Celtic have scored more than us in all competitions and they have only conceded less than us as well. From our point of view we are in a good place and I won’t worry too much about Rangers and their predicament. Giovanni doesn’t need me chipping in with my ten pence worth.”