McINNES PENS NEW DONS DEAL
No return to Rangers for Derek
DEREK McINNES has ruled himself out of the Rangers job after signing a new two-year deal with Aberdeen. The ex-Ibrox midfielder was one of five men in the running for the post along with Mark Warburton, Ian Cathro, Billy Davies and recent interim head coach Stuart McCall. Last night, McInnes declared he plans further silverware with the Dons after leading them to their first trophy since 1995 when they won the League Cup last year. ‘I don’t want our tenure with Aberdeen to be remembered for having lifted one trophy,’ said McInnes after signing a contract with No 2 Tony Docherty that will take them through to the summer of 2019. ‘While we’ve achieved some progress, we still have a long way to go. ‘Tony and I are totally committed to bringing as much success as we possibly can to this club and, while we’ve already achieved some progress, we still have a long way to go. ‘This is a great club, with great fans and a fantastic squad of players and I’m looking forward to what promises to be an exciting season ahead.’ Aberdeen chairman Stewart
Milne said: ‘Derek (below) and Tony have made tremendous progress in the two years they have been here and I’m absolutely delighted they want to remain to see through the job they’ve started.’
Rangers hope to have a new manager in place by the start of next week — with Cathro considering himself very much in the running after quitting his No 2 post with Valencia.
Sportsmail understands that, although t here are genuine personal reasons behind his decision to return to Scotland, the former Dundee United youth guru is keen to have a crack at taking Rangers into the top flight.
Ibrox director Paul Murray told f ans at yesterday’s low-key and faintly farcical general meeting — called by minority shareholder Mike Ashley but not attended by any of his representatives — that a managerial appointment is imminent.
‘We hope to appoint a new manager in the early part of next week,’ said Murray, who took charge of the meeting while chairman Dave King was said to be in London on club business.
Yesterday’s meeting was called by Ashley t o demand t he repayment of a £5million loan made to Rangers when the previous regime were needing money to remain afloat. The Sports Direct tycoon took out an i njunction on the eve of the general meeting, preventing club directors from revealing details of his fi r m’s hotlydisputed retail deal with Rangers. But Ashley did not send anyone from his company MASH Holdings — which holds his 8.92per- cent stake in the club — to address the 500-odd shareholders yesterday.
Murray told the meeting: ‘MASH was asked if i t would send a representative to today’s meeting. No reply was received.
‘The board are surprised that having called a meeting they have not seen fit to attend and explain themselves. It would appear MASH sees no reason to explain its conduct.’
The gagging order enforced by Thursday’s decision at the High Court in London l eft Murray, fellow director John Gilligan and company secretary James Blair unable to answer many questions from shareholders.
Gilligan did, however, reveal that the directors had been served with the injunctions by sheriff officers to their homes on Thursday night.
Rangers a dded a se c o nd resolution to the agenda, calling for the retail contracts with Sports Direct to be renegotiated. As things stand, 75 per cent of profits from shirt and merchandise sales go to Ashley.
That figure would drop to 49 per cent if Rangers were to repay the cash they have borrowed from Ashley, while the security he has taken over in club assets like Murray Park and the club’s trademarks would also be returned.
But after advising shareholders to vote down Ashley’s repayment demand, Gilligan informed the meeting that the board felt it was not in the current ‘best interests’ of Rangers to hand the money back, adding: ‘Trust us, please.’
The results of the shareholder vote are expected to be announced on Monday.
Meanwhile, King defended his decision to hike up the price of season tickets — despite the club spending another season in the Championship.
In a letter to supporters, he justified the average five-per-cent increase by insisting everyone has to invest in the club’s future.
‘The football you have watched over the last season does not justify the price you have paid — but we want and need to do better,’ said King.
‘Our club cannot get to the point where we celebrate mediocrity.’