Aberdeen defender Ashton Taylor hopes he can help team-mate Scott McKenna make the grade at Pittodrie next season.
The Englishman has taken on the role of mentoring the young centre half who made his first start for the club at the end of the campaign.
Taylor has been impressed by the potential of the 19 year-old who was his central defensive partner in the final two games of the season against Hearts and Ross County and hopes he can guide the teenager towards regular first team football with the Dons.
He said: “It was good to get some young lads in the team towards the end of the season and Scott McKenna is one who will be hoping to kick on next season.
“He’s a big lad and a good defender who I’ve taken him under my wing and hopefully I can help him develop at the club.
“I was lucky to have good role models helping me when I was a young lad such as Ian Goodison at Tranmere Rovers. His experience was vital for me and if I can pass any of my experience on then hopefully it can help.
“That’s what you want as a young player as there are times when you can struggle and it is easy to let the head drop. Some young lads like an opinion and if I can help like others helped me I’m happy to do it.”
Taylor and his team-mates are enjoying their break but their rest will not be a long one with the players due to report for training in mid-June ahead of their Europa League qualifying campaign which gets underway on June 30.
Reaching the group stage is the aim for the Dons but Taylor is also hoping for improvement in the cup competitions following disappointing early exits to Hibernian and Hearts this season.
He said: “We had a disappointing end to the season but we are making progress and the experience will help us.
“We all want to be successful but we know our form in the cups was not good enough.
“It was the biggest disappointment of the season for me when you consider the squad of players we have here.
“The manager has brought some players in already and there will be more to come and with the squad we have we’ll be aiming to do better next year.”
