Morgyn Neill believes he has proved he can cut it at a successful club after winning the League One title with Cove Rangers.
Neill left Dumbarton, who Cove beat to seal promotion last Saturday, to join the ambitious Aberdeen side.
The centre-back had been used to fighting relegation battles through his career and admits some may have raised eyebrows when they saw someone of his playing style joining Cove.
Bringing a more physical and rugged approach to the defence, Neill has also shown a real development into how Cove want to play with their build-up from the back.
He was also named club player of the year at their awards ceremony, which took place after the Dumbarton game.
“I always believed I could be playing higher than I was,” said Neill. “That’s no disrespect to Dumbarton. They’ve got good people and my goal kept them in the league last season.
“I had a lot of options to be fair but you need to be mad to turn Cove down. That’s just the ambition of the club.
“The gaffer is from down my way and he made a trip down to see me. Once I met him the first thing I said was ‘make sure that deal’s done by the end of the day’ because I wanted to be part of it.”
‘When you play with better players it makes you a better player’
“A lot of people might say that because I know Gordon Young and he gave me my opportunity in football (that’s why I’m here). But it wasn’t that.
“I bring something different to the team. I’m a bit old school and maybe the gaffer doesn’t always like that, but I’ve settled in and I try play out from the back when I can.
“I’m no-nonsense as well. I know how to do my job and maybe shout at people when they’re not doing theirs!”
Neill has played the most minutes of any Cove player this season but will unfortunately miss out on the final game of the season against East Fife due to suspension.
But he feels he has made great strides in his debut season at the Balmoral Stadium and vindicated the club bringing him to the north-east.
“When I was younger, when you play with better players it makes you a better player,” added Neill. “You can be an average player and play with better players – you will become a better player.
“You need to believe in yourself and that’s probably the biggest thing I’ve had. There’s no doubt people will have doubted me when I signed – ‘why are they signing a guy who was second-bottom of the league?’
“But if you look at what my job is defensively, we were just behind Cove for the best goal-difference last year. We didn’t concede a lot but we didn’t score enough.
“I’ve said before the club is a part-time club but does things full-time. I don’t think the things Cove provide many clubs will do.”