Niall McGinn is motivated to silence the Dons dissenters with victory at Ibrox today.
Since the winter break Aberdeen and manager Derek McInnes have been on the receiving end of increasing flak from sections of the Pittodrie support.
The Reds have only scored once in three games, a penalty to beat Dumbarton in the Scottish Cup.
They lost at home to Motherwell 10 days ago (1-0) and during last Sunday’s 0-0 draw with St Mirren in Paisley some members of the Red Army could be heard chanting for McInnes to leave Aberdeen.
Ahead of this afternoon’s clash at Ibrox, McGinn says hearing such chants motivates the Dons squad.
The winger, 32, said: “It definitely gives you motivation and if I’m honest just about every game you play you’re going out to prove somebody wrong.
“It can be other people or other teams you want to prove wrong and you always want to do your best.
“You want to go to different stadiums and win every week. You want to show opposition fans and sometimes our own fans – if they’re getting on the team’s back.
“But if they’re getting on our backs it’s because we’re not doing well and they want us to do better.
“We understand that as a group of players and we want to do better as players.
“We understand the disappointment if we’re not doing well on the pitch so we’ll always do our best to try to rectify that.”
McGinn understands the frustration of the fans and the Northern Ireland international added: “It’s normal in football.
“As a player you know if you’re out there and not winning then the fans get frustrated.
“But it’s down to the players and it’s down to the staff to stick together.
“Since the manager came into the club we’ve been very consistent, getting into Europe every season and getting into cup finals and semi-finals.
“We want to do that again this season, get a good Scottish Cup run and also secure European football through the league.
“When you’re out playing you hear fans singing and making noise, but you don’t really take in what they’re singing. We’re just concentrating on playing the game. Fans are entitled to their opinions and it’s up to them how they express those opinions.
“As players we just concentrate on the onfield stuff because that’s what we’re here to do.”
McGinn is frustrated by Aberdeen’s recent lack of goals.
He hopes they can deliver today and said: “In the last few games we’ve been getting plenty of corners and free-kicks, but we’re maybe just not getting those clear-cut opportunities that we’d like.
“As a team we maybe need to be a bit more greedy and as players get more shots away, and that might result in more goals.
“In the time I’ve been here we’ve had periods where things haven’t clicked as we would like. But we’ve always bounced back and we’re looking to do that.
“Playing Rangers at Ibrox is the type of game you want to be involved in and it can kickstart your season.
“We’re going in as underdogs, but we believe in ourselves and we always believe we can get a result in these games.
“In my time here we’ve gone down to Ibrox and got good results. We know it’s a difficult game, but it’s one you want to play in.”
Having won at Ibrox twice last season McGinn is confident the Reds can repeat the feat this afternoon, despite a 5-0 thrashing in Govan in September.
He believes a victory for the Dons would kickstart the second half of their campaign and said: “It’s one big result we need.
“It’s a busy period coming up right through to the international break in March. There are important league games as well as the cup game next week.
“These games are important at this time in the season because we’re fighting for Europe and fighting to have a good cup run.
“It is a tough game but we need to give a good account of ourselves. If we get a result it could kickstart the second half of the season.”
