EXPERIENCE has taught Jonny Hayes how to block out the critics in football and focus on real life.

The winger, now in his second spell at Aberdeen following an unsatisfactory three years at Celtic, recalled a 3-0 defeat for the Reds at Hamilton seven years ago and how despair beckoned, until he recognised there is more to life than his chosen profession.

Still, it’s hard to hide from the stark reality that the Dons are underperforming and that there is a groundswell of opinion among the team’s supporters that the experiment of recruiting a rookie manager in Stephen Glass isn’t working.

A failure to win in their last ten games and a drop to  ninth place in the Premiership table, underlines that assertion.

With a tough week ahead, starting with a home fixture against Hibs today, the light at the end of the tunnel is barely visible given that Rangers and Hearts are next on their fixture list.

“To be honest, the older I get the more I block stuff out,” Hayes insisted. “You cannot affect how people think.

“I’d be lying if I said I wasn't surprised by our current position in the league. We have a lot of good players at the club and it has been disappointing.

“It is something we need to improve on sooner rather than later.”

The 34-year-old Irishman thought chairman Dave Cormack’s appearance on a BBC Radio Scotland programme last Monday when he backed Glass, was reassuring and required in such difficult times.Cormack came out on the airwaves in the wake of last weekend’s defeat at Dundee as the traveling supports called for the manager’s head.

But the chairman made it clear he was firmly behind what Glass was trying to achieve at the club.

“It’s about continuity and the manager and his staff work very hard,” Hayes added. “I feel managers should be given a certain amount of time, regardless of results. I know hindsight is a wonderful thing, but we’re working hard and we’re not that far away from clicking. I don’t see any reason for change.

“There’s a bit of clarity now. There are rumours online, but we know going into this weekend, that we’ll work on the shape, work on tactics, and will work on that for the foreseeable.

“As player, it lets you know that you have a bit of time to turn this around. I think there’s got to be an onus on the group as a whole, not just the manager, to take responsibility for negative results and positive results.”

Hayes’s attempts to downplay what many fans see as a crisis at Pittodrie will be measured against the result and performance against Hibs as the Dons bid to half the slide.

Glass has spoken almost weekly of individual errors being made within his side, particularly in defence, by Hayes is adamant the brickbats won’t bring additional pressure.

“There are far bigger pressures in the outside world,” he said.

“There are people struggling all over the country but football is an enjoyable pressure.

“I enjoy playing in the high pressure games and at the moment with us not being up to standard every game is high pressure.

“I’m one of the more experienced guys so it is up to me to try and explain to some of the other boys that this should be an enjoyable pressure.

“A sense of perspective is something I have learned over time. I go back to when we lost 3-0 to Hamilton six or seven years ago. You go home and want to sit in a darkened room.

“But, I’d just had a little boy at the time and that does put things into perspective. It gave me that little bit of freedom to just focus on football and not worry about anything else. Playing football is the best job in the world and you try to get that through to the younger boys.”