The 31-year-old has committed to his fourth year at the Rock. Having verbally agreed a deal with the previous manager Ian Murray, his future, along with the other members of last year’s squad, was thrown into doubt when Murray took the reigns at St Mirren.

However Graham was always keen to stay and his mind was quickly made up after his first meeting with Aitken and his assistant Stephen Farrell.

He said: “It was good to get in and meet the new gaffer and his assistant so quickly. I was pleased at how they handled that because it was important we got in to speak to them and found out where we stood as quickly as possible.

“The manager was quite complementary and said he wanted me to stay on, which was nice to hear because I’m happy at the club. They were very positive about the club going forward, I got that from both of them, they are both positive people.

“I liked the way they talked about how professional the club is going to be. That was always the case under Ian (Murray) but I was glad to hear they want to continue that and add their own tweaks.

“They are looking at facilities for pre-season and training facilities for during the season as well to try and get us a bigger size pitch to train on.

“We have been using Toryglen which is only a quarter sized pitch, I think they are looking for a little bigger than that to work on things like shape which is good.” With the mass exodus of players from last year’s Sons squad — as it stands Dumbarton have eight players for next year — Graham admits that this is an anxious time of year as the club awaits reinforcments for next season while bidding farewell to some familiar faces.

Graham added: “With so little of the boys remaining from last year it is a big job to rebuild the squad, we need a squad of 18 or 19 to compete in this league. But the new manager has his own ideas for the club and I’m sure they are working hard to get new players in.”