Leighton Clarkson tells Stiliyan Petrov and Celtic pals to stop wasting their breath as he makes Aberdeen title vow

Leighton Clarkson has insisted Stiliyan Petrov and the former Celtic stars who are writing Aberdeen off are wasting their breath.

The Bulgarian is amongst a number of former Hoops players who have dismissed the Dons' title credentials - even though they are unbeaten in the league and sit joint top of the Premiership. Petrov came out earlier this weekend and claimed that the Dons are not a threat to his former side. Clarkson insisted that nobody within Jimmy Thelin’s squad is even discussing possible title bids or even listening to any of the outside noise from those of a Celtic persuasion or elsewhere for that matter.

The midfielder said: “You could see it as a compliment, it’s one of them. But at the same time we don’t think about any of that or listen, to be honest. We have to go to St Mirren and beat them because if we lose three on the bounce, those conversations wouldn’t be happening any more. So for us it’s a case of trying to stay consistent, pick up as many points as we can and further down the line we’ll see where we are.”

Aberdeen have still to taste defeat in the league under Thelin although their unbeaten Premiership run goes back to the end of March last season. The former Liverpool youngster admitted Aberdeen is now a team who go into every game believing. He insisted: “Does it feel like we’ve been unbeaten for as long as we have? No, it doesn’t really.

“After that last loss (at Dundee) there were a lot of harsh words spoken, we took it on board and the reality of it all kicked in. After that we kicked on, started showing what we are as footballers and have taken it on this season too. It’s mental thinking back to that.

“This last six or seven months everyone is loving it. The confidence is high. In