Dons legend urges Aberdeen to play Rangers target Ryan Jack in Cup Final

Alex McLeish believes Aberdeen should have no qualms about playing Rangers target Ryan Jack in the William Hill Scottish Cup final.

Jack is expected to join Rangers following Saturday's game against Celtic after telling manager Derek McInnes he would be leaving Pittodrie at the end of his contract.

McInnes fielded Jack on his return from a groin injury in the second half of Aberdeen's 6-0 win over Partick Thistle on Sunday but there was a touch of frustration in his comments before the game when he admitted he was in the dark over the midfielder's next move.

A switch to Ibrox for the Aberdonian would be highly unpopular with the Dons fans but McLeish believes there should be no doubts about the captain's commitment if he faces Celtic - citing the example of Charlie Nicholas.

McLeish and Nicholas both scored in the shoot-out against Celtic when Aberdeen last lifted the trophy in 1990, when the former Parkhead striker was known to be returning to his boyhood heroes.

It's just a fact of life,'' McLeish said.Ryan Jack might be on a move right now, but will he be thinking about Rangers rather than Aberdeen? I don't believe that. The kid is a great professional and he will give everything.

If I go back to Aberdeen winning that trophy (in 1990), Charlie Nicholas was already set for going back to Celtic, and I'm sure he tried to miss that penalty in the shoot-out.

He pinged it high right off the stanchion - what an amazing penalty. But Charlie says he put it exactly where he wanted to put it.

But he went to Celtic the next day virtually and he still had a fantastic game for us.

Jack may give one of the performances of his career in this game.''

The former Scotland boss, who played for Aberdeen for 16 years before joining Motherwell as player/manager, added: It's a player's world these days.

In my day I had to negotiate with people like Sir Alex (Ferguson) and that was never easy to say I want to leave.

I hear managers in England years later saying: 'I tried to buy you but the manager slammed the phone down on me'.

Nowadays the players have got a lot of power. Even when we had freedom of contract in those days you couldn't just walk out on the club.

The club still had a claim on your registration in terms of getting fees and at that time it was virtually a slave market, and now it has become really open for footballers to get as much as they can out of their careers, because it's a very short one.''