BOARD ARE TO BLAME
From Back Page McInnes was welcomed back to Pittodrie after discussing his future with Sunderland in the summer and Gers earlier last week.
The former West Ham and Arsenal front man, who was also assistant to Chris Coleman with Wales, doubted whether the Dons gaffer could have given the Light Blues the boost they need.
He said: “Mourinho would struggle to do something special with Rangers.
“I don’t think they are a fantastic set of players. Caixinha wasted money on a lot of duds so it’s going to take someone more than McInnes to go in there.
“They need a sort of transition as they need better players and a board that trusts the right person to bring in the right manager.
“Whoever appointed Caixinha and Warburton should be held accountable, not the players. The players just go out and try to do their best.
“But if Rangers are going to keep appointing managers who are nowhere near good enough or stable enough to manage that massive club then why aren’t the people making those decisions made accountable for their mistakes?
“It’s easy to blame the manager and point the finger at the players but it is the decision makers who are at fault.
“Someone is sitting nice and pretty behind it all watching the storm build up and these are the ones who are responsible.”
Hartson believes McInnes is lucky to have a chairman such as Stewart Milne.
He said: “He’s very fortunate he’s able to go back to Aberdeen after talking to other clubs about taking a job.
“At loads of other clubs if you go out the door to do that they might not welcome you back the way Aberdeen welcomed Derek back.
“That’s twice now he’s gone to speak to other clubs, so what does that tell you?
“Does he want to stay at Aberdeen or does he want to leave Aberdeen? I thought he was fortunate to stay after going to speak to Sunderland.
“He wasn’t happy with what Sunderland were going to offer him and he was fortunate Aberdeen kept the door open for him.
“He is also fortunate to have a fantastic owner, backer and supporter of his at Pittodrie because they could have lost their manager last week as he spoke to Rangers then decided he wanted to go back to Aberdeen.
“The fans have stuck with him and the chairman is obviously a big fan of his. I don’t know what the players will feel but it seems they have welcomed him back and are happy to have him back. He is very fortunate.”
Although Hartson doubted McInnes could have worked a bit of magic at Ibrox after the failings of the club under Warburton and Caixinha, he praised the stand-in boss Graeme Murty.
He added: “Rangers are pretty much back to square one again but the good thing is they are picking up a few good results. While that continues it keeps people off your back and Graeme Murty’s doing a great job.”
Now helping the strikers at Championship title hopefuls Livingston, Hartson also sang the praises of their boss David Hopkin.
He said: “David’s been fantastic. His team won League One last season and they’re currently fourth in the Championship.
“How he keeps getting overlooked for jobs, I’ll never know.”
● Hartson was at CLAN Cancer Centre in Aberdeen to donate a cheque for £20,000 from the John Hartson Foundation. The charity has raised around £750,000 in seven years and is targeting £1million by 2020.