ANDREW Considine is always straight on the phone to his father, Doug, after Aberdeen have been in action.

The family post-match debriefing is de rigueur, the pair forever seeking further improvements in Andrew's game.

Former Pittodrie player Considine senior once featured in the same left-back position his son now occupies in Derek McInnes's impressive side and his advice is always welcomed by the 27-year-old.

Considine junior's abilities may be largely unheralded, but he is regarded by his manager as essential to the needs of his SPFL Premiership-topping team, to the point where the player has just been tied up on a new deal that will keep him at the club until 2017.

Considine, from Banchory, Aberdeenshire, is in his testimonial year, having become a professional a decade ago, but still values the analysis of a father famously moved on from the club when Sir Alex Ferguson made it clear his face did not fit.

There is one story, recounted in Michael Grant's book Fergie Rises, that before a game at Morton's Cappielow ground on a cold and wet day Greenock day, Ferguson asked if any player required a long-sleeved shirt.

Doug raised his hand and his manager exploded, not only lambasting him, but endeavouring to replace him in the Aberdeen side with Doug Rougvie, only to be informed it was too late for such an alteration as the team lines had already been handed in.

Soon after, in 1981, Doug Considine, part of the team that won the Scottish Premier Division in 1980, was transferred to Dunfermline. He retired two years later, aged only 26.

"My dad is the first guy I phone after games," said Considine junior. "He's brutally honest, which you'd rather have. He has been there and done it and he'll tell me what I did right and what I did wrong. It's great to have that.

"I've always looked up to him and it's great to have him by my side. He played in a team full of inter- nationalists back in the day, so to have him in my corner is brilliant.

"He's delighted that I'm still here and playing for the same club he was a part of. I grew up in Banchory, came in to watch Aberdeen when I was young, and I've been at the club since I was 12.

"It's the one team I always wanted to play for and I'm delighted to be here for the next couple of years."

Considine's ability to adapt to left-back, despite a desire to partic-ipate at centre-half, the position for which he was signed, has proved the making of him, especially as Mark Reynolds and Ash Taylor - and before him, Russell Anderson - are performing so well at the heart of the defence.

Considine was pleased to accept McInnes's invitation to extend his contract, the manager also persuading others that form the nucleus of his side, including Jonny Hayes, Niall McGinn, Adam Rooney and up-and-coming youngsters Lawrence Shankland and Scott McKenna, to stay put.

"It's a fantastic club and I feel that with what Derek and Tony Docherty, his assistant, are doing here, we have some exciting years ahead," Considine said. "It would be silly to leave. With the squad we have, confidence is high; we're playing good football and winning games.

"There's nowhere else I'd want to be. I've seen some good and bad times here, but I feel that there's a certain level of consistency now and a real buzz about the squad.

"With the likes of wee Jonny staying, along with Adam and Niall, all the key boys have been signed up again. To keep these guys is great because I'd imagine the worry would be, with the way we're playing, there would be other teams sniffing around.

"To be having my testimonial year at 27 is brilliant. I've loved every minute of being here and I'm delighted to have signed up for another two years.

"Since Derek and Tony have come in there has been a real positivity around the club. I feel that has brought us on leaps and bounds. It's a fantastic place to be. We have a fantastic squad, the kind of squad that can really go places - and I want to be a part of that."

The thrill of winning the League Cup last season has stayed with him, but Considine, ready to face Motherwell at Fir Park in the league this afternoon, wants a repeat performance.

The holders are already back in the last four, facing Dundee United in the semi-finals at Hampden on January 31.

Considine added: "To finish higher in the league would be ideal, too, and that's what we're striving for. Regular European football would also be terrific, of course - and to get further than we did this season."