And, today, Jocky, whose own side knocked the Dons out of the Co-op Cup, was again highlighting the fact there is life outside the Premier League, and putting a case forward for expanding the top division.

Along with Aberdeen’s demise, this season’s Scottish Cup has also seen Inverness Caley beat Motherwell, while Dunfermline pushed Celtic all the way before going down 4-2.

Those results, and others of a similar nature in recent knockout competitions, have convinced Jocky there are clubs in Division One who would cope in the top flight and, he feels, help improve the overall standard of football on offer.

However, the Dens boss is well aware, for that to happen, SPL clubs would have to accept a lesser share of the top-flight kitty, which, he feels, is an unlikely scenario.

“What last night’s result again shows is that there are teams in Division One who could hold their own in the Premier League,” said Jocky.

“Including ourselves, I reckon there are five or six teams who could step up. I’m not saying we would be winning every week, but I’m sure we could cope.

“But, unfortunately, because of the greed in the SPL, we are not going to get that opportunity unless we win the First Division.

“That’s nothing to do with managers. It’s down to the people in the boardrooms who run these clubs.

“They don’t want to split the pot 16 ways. They only want to split it 12 ways — it’s a disgrace.

“I think Jim Jefferies came out last week and said the Premier League should be increased to 16 teams and, so far, I think he’s one of the few managers who have actually said it.

“But we need more to come out and admit it, because the overall standard of games is poor.”

Meanwhile, Jocky was full of praise for Raith, whose victory last night set up a quarter-final tie against the Dark Blues on Saturday, March 13.

And he warned his own men they face a huge task if they are to reach the semis.

“Raith definitely deserved to win last night. They wanted it more and their workrate was magnificent.

“I think some of the Aberdeen players took it for granted they would go through. They thought the job had been done when they took Raith back to Pittodrie.

“We certainly won’t be doing that when Raith come here.

“I saw them last night and also last Saturday, and I know it will be an extremely difficult tie.

“They’ve gone to Pittodrie and deservedly got a result, so they’ll come here thinking they can do the same.

“However, we’ve got a few league games to concentrate on before then and one of them is at Raith, so we’ll get an indication of how hard the cup-tie will be when we play them down there.”

Meanwhile, Dundee sent a strong team through to the west today to face Celtic in a closed-door game.

Included in the Dark Blues line-up were Tony Bullock, Craig McKeown, Richie Hart, Sean Higgins and Colin McMenamin.

It’s been confirmed Paul McHale won’t play again this season after injuring a groin against QOS in November.

The midfielder had surgery to cure the problem, but, although on the mend, he won’t feature in the title run-in.