From lying in a darkened room to getting called up for Scotland. It was something of an understatement when Ryan Jack described the last couple of weeks as “eventful”.
The Rangers midfielder’s late red card against Kilmarnock, the injury-time equaliser that followed and the subsequent sacking of Pedro Caixinha won’t be cherished memories to look back on. But making his debut in the dark blue against the Netherlands in tomorrow night’s friendly certainly will be.
“There’s no denying it’s been eventful,” he said. “Especially with the change of manager. It’s never nice to see anyone lose their job and Pedro was the man who brought me to the club.
“But that’s football and now it’s just about looking forward. It’s happened now and we just have to move on.”
“Was it (the red card) frustration? It boils down to a few things, but frustration was one of the biggest. Things weren’t going to well, it was a difficult time, we weren’t getting results, and everything then looks a wee bit worse than it actually is.
“But, for me, I need to put that behind me. I’ve stayed on the pitch for the last two games so that’s been a bonus!
“I don’t think anyone realises how much something like that affects you as a football player. Everyone is going to have an opinion on the game and my sending off.
“It was a difficult night, of course it was. It was one of those nights when I went back home and lay on my bed without getting any sleep because you can’t quite believe what happened. It’s about having the right people around you and moving on.”
Jack angered many Aberdeen fans with his summer switch from Pittodrie to Ibrox but he isn’t worried about the reception he’ll get on his first return home.
“No, not at all,” he said. “I’d been with Aberdeen since I was eight-years-old and played 250 games for them.
“It’s a great club and all my family and friends are still based up there so I’m looking forward to having them at the game.”
“Under Pedro we didn’t have many days off as we trained quite a lot. I went up a couple of times to see family and friends and there were no issues. It was fine.
“It’s not about me and it’s not about Rangers and Aberdeen. It’s about Scotland and about the team.
“I am just focusing on giving it my best shot if I get called upon to play.”
The absence of Jack, Graeme Shinnie, Kenny McLean and Ryan Christie when Scotland squads were announced by Gordon Strachan used to infuriate Dons supporters but stand-in boss Malky Mackay has picked them all.
“I can’t speak for the other ones but for me there was no frustration,” said Jack. “It is part of football.
“It is a game of opinions as everyone knows. One manager might think you are excellent. Another might not fancy you as much.
“It is about keeping your head down and working as hard as you can.
“I know from my experience in football you can’t please all the people all of the time.
“Any time you’re asked to play for your country at any level it’s a great honour. It maybe came as a bit of a surprise but I’m delighted to be here and, hopefully, I can show what I can do.“
There has been speculation that Jack may be asked to play at right-back by Mackay and it’s a role he would be happy to take on.
“Playing at right-back won’t faze me,” he said. “I played 18 or 19 games there for the under-21s and I also had a few club games in that position.
“You would play anywhere just to pull on that jersey for your country. I didn’t move into midfield until Derek McInnes came to Aberdeen.
“When a new manager comes to a club he has meetings with the players to tell them what he expects and he told me that he’d watched me in training and believed that I should play in the middle, although he’d use me at right-back if he needed me.
“Coming through the youth ranks you play everywhere and sometimes I even played at centre-half. It was Craig Brown who used me more as a full-back at Aberdeen but Derek McInnes changed all that.
“I’m always open-minded about these things, as long as I get the chance to play. You just do your best. When you’re young you’ll play wherever you’re told to play and I just decided to work as hard as I could to learn how to be a central midfielder.”
Talking of Derek McInnes, what would Jack’s reaction be if his old Aberdeen boss was his new one at Ibrox?
He said: “I would have no issue with him at all.
“I don’t pay too much attention to that. You just have to wait and see who comes in.
“Whoever it will be, will be. I look forward to it when it happens.
“From what I’m hearing there are a lot of strong candidates. I try not to worry about that side of it.”