Aberdeen FC out to prove Neil Warnock wrong as Nicky Devlin adamant 'we DO have leaders' in squad

Nicky Devlin is adamant this Aberdeen squad can prove Neil Warnock wrong and show their manager he does have leaders in his dressing room.

The veteran manager had claimed that apart from captain Graeme Shinnie there weren’t enough big personalities in his newly-inherited team. Devlin has previously been the skipper at Livingston, while Angus MacDonald also had the armband at Swindon Town and other players such as experienced Jonny Hayes remain a big influence on this Dons squad. Devlin said: “From what the manager said that is his opinion, that is how he sees things.

“There are a lot of boys in that squad who have been captains at other clubs and leaders at other clubs. Don’t get me wrong we have to bring more of that out. That is the responsibility that falls to everyone in the dressing room to show more. We are underperforming individually and as a collective so it is up to us to try to bring that out in ourselves and each other.”

Devlin also knows that when it comes to leadership it is not always about being the most vocal because you can also lead by example in other ways. The right-back explained: “However there are probably different ways people can be leaders.

“Jonny Hayes is one of the leaders in that dressing room but he is not a shouter. Jonny is not someone who will come in and fire everyone up but he goes about his business.

“Everyone in the dressing room can probably hold their hands up and say we have not been good enough for large spells. It is up to us to try to bring that back out.”

Warnock claimed his Aberdeen team were bullied in the weekend defeat to Kilmarnock. Devlin admitted it was justified but was hard to hear. The Dons have shown their mettle in big wins over Rangers, Hearts and Eintracht