When call comes from Rangers, McInnes must listen to his head as well as his heart
AHUGE gulf. With one phrase Derek McInnes offered both the best reason to leave Aberdeen for Rangers. And the worst.
A sobering 3-0 home loss to Celtic in midweek forced the Pittodrie boss to offer a stark appraisal.
Aberdeen were dismantled. Outplayed by a team head and shoulders above their domestic rivals.
If Celtic were going to lose their 60-match unbeaten record, it was natural to think Wednesday was both the time and the place.
Second in each of the last three seasons, Aberdeen were unbeaten in their opening nine matches. They hadn’t lost a goal in three games. Evidence from the Scottish Cup Final in May suggested they might be edging closer to a team with the Champions League on their minds.
Closer, certainly, than a Rangers side going nowhere fast with Pedro Caixinha in charge.
But the problem for McInnes remains the same whether he manages Aberdeen or leaves to replace Caixinha as the next boss of Rangers.
Celtic are raking in £30million a year from qualification for the Champions League. They won’t spend all of that money on new players. But the fact is, they can if they have to.
David Murray famously boasted that, for every fiver Celtic spent, Rangers could spend a tenner. Peter Lawwell isn’t noted for slashing at the Parkhead purse strings with garden shears. But if Celtic’s chief executive had to cut loose to keep Rangers in the rear view mirror, few doubt he would do it.
IF — or when — an offer comes from Ibrox, then, McInnes faces a bona fide dilemma. A former Rangers player, there’s no question the job would hold some emotional appeal.
Nights like Wednesday also raise a legitimate question. How much further can he really take Aberdeen on current resources?
Rangers have still to prove they can become a sustainable football club without being hooked up to an intravenous drip of shareholder loans.
But 40,000 season-ticket holders clearly offer a bit more financial clout than Aberdeen can provide.
McInnes insists he is happy at Pittodrie. But he could look at the silly money wasted on Joey Barton and Carlos Pena and conclude he might use that cash more effectively. That he could sign Kenny McLean and acquire players likely to make Rangers better without prompting a financial meltdown.
How much better is the question? Because no one expects or demands that Aberdeen go toe to toe with Celtic.
The Dons can finish second and it’s a decent season. They can spend a Wednesday night chasing green-and-white shadows and no one blames the manager.
The gap between what Celtic can pay Moussa Dembele and what Aberdeen pay Adam Rooney breeds realism. Those of us who yearn for a competitive Scottish Premiership might wish it were different. But the days of Miller and McLeish are gone and they’re not coming back.
The scenario facing the next manager of Rangers is rather different. The absolute least the Ibrox board and supporters expect is second place.
McInnes could deliver that simply by leaving Aberdeen. He could quickly remind Rangers fans how it feels to win three games in a row. He might even narrow the gap on Celtic to eight or ten points within a season or two.
After that? The next manager has the pressure and grief of ten-in-a-row to deal with. It’s true he can’t offer new signings £12,000-a-week at Pittodrie. But that, in itself, brings pressure and expectation.
Because the Rangers statement on Thursday confirmed the sacking of Caixinha was down to results ‘not commensurate with the level of investment... made available.’
As Rangers manager, he might have money to spend. But spend it badly and it will cost him his job.
Chased 3-0 by Celtic at Ibrox, there would be no question of walking into the press room and bemoaning a huge gulf. From any Rangers boss that’s an admission of failure. An intelligent man, McInnes knows all this.
In one of the marvellous cock-ups which sometimes creep into newspaper layouts, the front page of the local paper yesterday put a picture of the Dons boss side by side with an ad for the Friday recruitment pages.
‘Don’t miss out on your dream job,’ read the blurb. The irony of the juxtaposition was missed by no one.
An offer to manage Rangers might only come once in a man’s life.
But McInnes has said no once to Sunderland. If or when the call comes from Rangers, he’ll be wise to listen to what the head tells him. Not the heart.