"I knew": Rangers loanee addresses Aberdeen backlash as boss praises 'outstanding' Pittodrie debut
The new signing has discussed fan backlash to his loan deal.
New Aberdeen signing Lyall Cameron admits he isn’t surprised by the fan backlash following his arrival from Rangers this month.
The 23-year-old midfielder joined the managerless Dons on Friday night on a loan deal until the end of the season, with the Scotland under-21 international searching for more game time after falling down the pecking order at Ibrox since the arrival of Danny Rohl as head coach in October.
Cameron was named player of the match on his home debut at the weekend, where his corner led to Jack Milne’s winning goal, as Aberdeen edged past Raith Rovers in the Scottish Cup with a 1-0 win at Pittodrie.
While he received a standing ovation from the home support when he was substituted off the field in the second-half, the young midfielder was met with a banner that simply read ‘no Old Firm loans’, as a section of fans vented their anger at his signing before kick-off.
"I don't go on social media or that kind of thing,” Cameron said following the game. “Before I came up here I knew what the reaction of the fans was going to be, but that's fair enough. I just need to come here and perform and work hard as much as I can for the team, and I'm going to keep doing that, so hopefully I can repay the fans.
“Definitely [happy with his performance], we all know it could have been tidier, and we could have put away a few more chances, but at the end of the day, it is all about getting through, and that is what we did."
Interim manager Peter Leven heaped praise on the performance of the playmaker after the game, and believes the Aberdeen fans are already seeing what the Dundee-born midfielder will bring to his starting XI. “His delivery from set-pieces was amazing,” said Leven.
“You can see his quality when picking up in areas. Lyall will get even better with the more minutes he gets but I thought he was outstanding. It was brilliant from the fans as I saw them clapping Lyall when he was taking corners.
“We saw a few upsets yesterday and we didn't want that so obviously I'm delighted to get through. I thought we started really well and got the goal, then made a couple of mistakes and looked a wee bit nervy. But again we had loads of shots and I thought our corners were really dangerous today. We shouldn't really be hanging on at the end but I thought we could have been a bit more clinical.”
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