Aberdeen captain Graeme Shinnie says it is his “dream” to win the Scottish Cup with his hometown team.
The Dons face off with treble-chasing Celtic at Hampden on Saturday in the club’s first Scottish Cup final since 2017, aiming to end a 35-year wait for national trophy glory and an 11-year silverware drought.
Shinnie led former club Inverness to Scottish Cup success in 2015 before his switch to Aberdeen.
He then captained Derek McInnes’ Dons in the 2017 showpiece – suffering a gut-wrenching 2-1 loss to Brendan Rodgers’ Hoops.
Now 33 and in his second spell at Pittodrie, the skipper finally has the chance to banish those painful memories in front of a 20,000-strong travelling Red Army.
Shinnie described lifting the Scottish Cup as “unbelievable” and “the best feeling ever”, adding: “If you could buy it, then it would be worth millions.”
However, achieving it with the Dons, would carry added significance.
“It would be special,” Shinnie – who is set to make his 300th club appearance in the cup final – said.
“For the players, it would mean being remembered for a long time.
“For the fans, to celebrate a Scottish Cup win would be massive. The city would be going mental.
“For the club and everyone involved, it’s one of the best things in football.
“I’ve experienced it at Inverness and it’s a day you will never forget.
“These are the days you want as a footballer, these are the days you will remember.
“You are in football to try and win silverware, to try and have these memories.
“We’re all looking forward to it.
“I think doing it once is good, but to do it again would feel every bit the same.
“Would it be better? I don’t know.
“It’s the Scottish Cup. It was great to win it at that age (with Inverness). I was 23, I was the captain at that point and at such a young age it was unbelievable.
“To do it now, at a totally different stage of my career, at my hometown club and as the captain again, it would be a dream come true.
“But it’s going to be tough. There’s a lot that needs to be done to try and get it.”
Shinnie’s history of heartache with Aberdeen against Celtic
Aberdeen are unquestionably underdogs for Saturday’s cup final.
The Dons have gone 30 matches against Celtic without defeating them, dating back to the 2017/18 league-closer at Parkhead during Rodgers’ first stint in charge of the Hoops.
Shinnie, individually, has played 28 times for Aberdeen against Celtic since 2015… and only won three times (the last of those victories the 2018 1-0 win).
In Shinnie’s first Reds spell, not only did he suffer the 2017 Scottish Cup final heartbreak to the Hoops at Hampden, but also two League Cup final defeats.
Last term, Aberdeen pushed the Hoops to the brink in a 3-3 Scottish Cup semi-final draw under Peter Leven, before losing 9-8 on penalties.
Rodgers has still to lose any Scottish Cup tie as Celtic manager.
This season, following a thrilling opening 2-2 Premiership draw between Jimmy Thelin’s Dons and the Hoops, there have been four consecutive Reds’ losses.
This has included a 6-0 League Cup semi-final hiding in November and two 5-1 league hammerings – the last of which came two Wednesdays’ ago in the Granite City.
Aberdeen skipper Shinnie: Dons’ record v Celtic and treble-chase ‘don’t mean anything’ at Hampden
Shinnie, playing at left-back, endured a tough time up against fellow veteran James Forrest at Pittodrie two weeks ago and was substituted.
While he admits it was a “difficult” evening against “ruthless” opponents as Aberdeen slumped to a fifth-place Premiership finish during the closing league stretch, Shinnie’s view is “games in the past are in the past – you can’t take much from them”.
The law of averages and the wait for victory against Celtic, the Dons trophy wait, the Hoops’ hunt for the treble… all meaningless, Shinnie insists, in deciding who wins on Saturday.
Shinnie said: “These things don’t mean anything to me.
“There’s a lot of things people say to me – It’s 10 years since you won it… this and that.
“They’re good to talk about, but it’s just two teams going out on the day and whoever’s better will win.
“We do have to turn up. We’ll have to be 100 percent at the top of our game.
“We need to try and knock them off their rhythm. We don’t want to be them in their fluidity and playing at their highest level.
“They’re very good and if you allow them to be very good, then they will be – you’ve seen that in the games we’ve had.
“But if you can do the opposite…
“We played at Celtic Park and we managed to get back in the game to draw 2-2.
“Knock them off that fluidity, that rhythm, then you’ve got a chance.
“We could’ve won that game in the end, but we also could’ve lost it in the first half.
“That sort of character is what you need.
“We were 2-0 down, and folk were maybe thinking: ‘This will be four or five again’.
“But we came back into it to draw.
“We watched St Johnstone beat them 1-0 (in the league). I know it was at McDiarmid Park and whatever else, but it can be done.
“So it’s about us staying focused on that, and having a game-plan and working hard, (and) seeing what happens on the day.”
Aberdeen must ‘lay a mark’ on Celtic
Shinnie is determined Aberdeen will not just let an all-conquering Celtic side roll over the top of them.
He added: “In the game, you want to lay a mark on them, of course – I think that’s been one of the problems we’ve had in the games against them, especially the one down in Celtic Park (5-1).
“We started really well and had two opportunities to go ahead. You don’t, they have two opportunities and suddenly you’re 2-0 down.
“So, it’s important that you’re ruthless at both ends of the pitch.”
Shinnie on how Aberdeen have ‘had laugh’ despite ‘shock’ of Jack MacKenzie seat incident
Last Saturday at Dundee United – after the shell-shock of a fourth straight defeat to end the Premiership campaign – Thelin’s Dons were left reeling when defender Jack MacKenzie was struck on the head by a seat thrown from the away section.
The incident, which happened during the home supporters’ celebratory pitch invasion, left MacKenzie bloodied and requiring stitches.
Though MacKenzie has been back in training ahead of the cup final, Shinnie slammed the incident, and thinks bad behaviour has been “creeping in” to Scottish football, saying: “I was really shocked. We don’t want to see pitch invasions and those sort of things – (and) you don’t want to see incidents like Jack had on Saturday.
“We don’t start throwing bottles and throwing chairs – people can get seriously hurt.
“Jack is lucky in a sense. If it was an inch lower it could’ve taken his eye out.”
Despite what was a serious and concerning situation, Shinnie revealed the Aberdeen squad have been j0king with team-mate MacKenzie, 23, over pictures taken in the aftermath.
“It was traumatic for Jack,” Shinnie said. “You rally round him – you try to have a bit of a laugh with him.
“I don’t think he had to be strapped into the wheelchair… that was a photo for the ages!”
‘Everything’s different’ if we win Scottish Cup – Shinnie
It was a “very tough” conclusion to the league season for Aberdeen, according to skipper Shinnie.
But with not only silverware, but guaranteed European group football up for grabs with cup glory, the captain has told his fellow Dons players “everything’s different” with regards to how the 2024/25 campaign will be remembered if they win at Hampden.
He said: “It’s been a very tough end to the season, the last four games.
“You go on that losing run and you end up undoing the hard work over the season. We finish fifth. It’s not the end of the world and we’re still in Europe… but from where we were after the Hibs game and fighting for third to then finish fifth, it looks worse.
“Then you come off the back of that and you’ve got a cup final to look forward to.
“I’ve said to the players: ‘If you win on Saturday, then everything’s different.'”
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