It is weird to think that all of this – a resurgent Aberdeen, a buoyant Pittodrie, and a growing clamour over a possible title race in the Scottish Premiership – might never have come within Graeme Shinnie’s grasp.

At 24, Shinnie is a shining light in a Dons team that has roused the Scottish game over these opening six salvos of the domestic season. Both for the player and his father, Gary, who spent half his life playing football with his two wee lads, Andrew and Graeme, when they were kids, it is all a thrilling reward for a lifetime’s passion for football.

Yet in 2009, when Shinnie was just 17 and a youth player at Inverness Caledonian Thistle, the Highland club got relegated from the SPL under Terry Butcher and was forced to scrap its under-19 team in which Shinnie was still learning his trade. It seemed touch and go at the time whether he would have a professional football career at all.

“They were forced to cut their budget at Caley Thistle that summer, and that under-19 team was done away with, so it was a question of whether you’ be kept on or not,” says Shinnie. “Had I not been kept on I guess there was a chance I might actually have walked away from football.

“Back then, at 17, I’d done nothing in the game, nothing to have warranted any attention from any other club. It would have been a gamble for anyone else to have come in and taken me on. But, as it turned out, Caley Thistle kept me on, and I started training with their first team, and it all took off from there.”

Six years on from that summer of uncertainty, Shinnie is a vital spark in this Aberdeen team, a skilful and tenacious footballer who sooner rather than later will surely convince Gordon Strachan to name him in a Scotland squad. Shinnie’s dedication to his game – and his terrier spirit – says everything about this refashioned Aberdeen team under Derek McInnes.

“I like to get up and down the park, get stuck in, and make things happen for my team,” says Shinnie with a distinct relish in his voice. “I’ve got a decent stamina about me and a bit of pace, so I can bomb up and down as a full-back or break things up if I’m playing in midfield. I’m not blowing my own trumpet - you just asked me about my game. As I say, I like to get stuck in, to be tenacious.”

McInnes has played Shinnie as both a full-back – which was not his original position as a youth – and as a central midfielder. It was from the middle of the park that Shinnie helped the Dons to their stunning 2-1 win over Celtic at Pittodrie last Saturday. Inevitably, it is intriguing to know which is his preferred role.

“Well, I played centre-mid as a teenager with Dyce Boys Club,” he says. “It was while playing for Dyce that I played against Caley Thistle, and they liked what they saw in me and signed me. But when I got to Caley Thistle, one day they were short of a full-back for an under-19s game, and they asked me to fill in there, and they again quite liked how I played. So that was the start of my life as a full-back.”

This season Shinnie played in most of Aberdeen’s European ties in central midfield, but has been a left-back for most of their domestic fixtures, until last weekend. His varied positions are an example of the tactical thinking of McInnes, who tells Shinnie where he is playing from week to week without feeling the need to offer any explanation why.

“And nor should he,” says Shinnie. “I’ll happily play wherever the manager wants me to play. When I signed for the club he told me that he saw me offering him two different options as a player: as a full-back and as a midfielder. I’m happy to play either role, and I certainly don’t need an explanation for it. Playing full-back allows me to bomb up and down, which I enjoy, and playing centre-mid allows me to get in about it and work really hard, which is also a part of my game.”

Shinnie has developed quite a bond with McInnes, a manager he evidently has the utmost respect for. McInnes, in turn, is believed to have lured one of the finest young prospects in Scotland to Pittodrie when he secured Shinnie’s future for Aberdeen back in January.

“One of his best qualities is his man-management,” Shinnie says of McInnes. “He is easy to approach, easy to go and talk to if you’ve got something on your mind. He is very approachable to his players. But he is also really professional, he doesn’t mess about, and he tells you exactly what he wants from you as a player. He has been like that from the first day I met him. I think he is a top manager, with a very high will to win. He has been great for me.”

Shinnie says he entered a club in the summer with “a fantastic togetherness” among its players, which is now very evident on the pitch. This perfect storm of McInnes, a passionate Pittodrie, and a team built on its skill and physical strength has laid down an early marker to the rest of the Scottish game.

Tonight Aberdeen can go five points clear of Celtic, each having played seven league games, if they beat Hamilton Academical. It is already the best start the Dons have ever made to a league campaign.

“This is a really good place to be right now,” says Shinnie. “The team is closely bonded, it is tight-knit. The fans are amazing – home and away - with their support and their singing. Pittodrie on Saturday against Celtic was absolutely brilliant – you could see what it meant to all of us.

“But we want to stay grounded. We know we are just six games in and there is a long way to go. In terms of the title race, we’re happy to say we will work really hard and see where we are in the months after Christmas. Anything could happen, couldn’t it? We’re keeping our heads down.”