A loyal servant who made club stronger
IF this season, at times, began to feel like the very definition of a long goodbye for Derek McInnes, that is probably only fitting. At a few weeks shy of eight years exactly, his term as Aberdeen manager ended up falling just a few months short of equalling Alex Ferguson’s tour of duty in the Granite City.
The fifth longest-serving manager in club history, the only other men ahead of McInnes all come from much earlier eras of committee men, baggy shorts and nail-in studs. And that makes him an oddity in the modern game. Not only a survivor but a loyal servant.
Someone who has enjoyed the support of not one but two chairmen. A sought-after coach who turned down opportunities elsewhere — yes, he may always wonder about that Rangers offer — in order to stay the course in the north east.
His record with Aberdeen has been a subject of debate and dispute since about year two, with his supporters and his critics each making selective use of statistics to augment their point of view.
What even the harshest of McInnes’ detractors might find difficult to deny, however, is that he leaves the club strengthened by his custodianship.
The Dons were in the bottom six and looking very much like yesterday’s men when then chairman Stewart Milne decided Craig Brown’s race had been run in April of 2013.
In came McInnes, who had carved out a bright reputation as St Johnstone boss before making an ill-fated move to Bristol City.
He stabilised the team and, within a year, had his first trophy to show for the remedial work carried out.
That League Cup win over Inverness Caledonian Thistle at Celtic Park, even if it did need a penalty shoot-out, was hailed as the dawn of a new era. Aberdeen fans were ecstatic over the club’s first piece of silverware since winning the same trophy back in 1995.
And then? Well now. Therein lies a story of consistent achievement. Up to a point.
They may have qualified for Europe in all of his full seasons at Pittodrie and taken scalps such as Groningen and Rijeka, but his inability to break through the glass ceiling — either by adding to that League Cup win or reaching the Europa League group stage — ultimately became a convenient stick with which to beat McInnes.
Often, his team were criticised for the terrible failing of being unable to stop Celtic. And never mind the fact that, for a few seasons there, they were the only team in Scotland carrying any kind of fight to the Glasgow giants.
Consistent runs to the semifinals were taken for granted. Losing to Celtic in three finals — twice in the League Cup, once in the Scottish Cup — was interpreted as a fatal flaw.
Fans looked at other teams, lesser teams in their eyes, picking up trophies and wondered what was wrong with the Reds.
Aberdeen mounted a morethan-decent title challenge during that spell, too, managing to at least keep Celtic honest. And they didn’t give ground and scurry back to more familiar territory when Rangers first returned to the elite division.
We will never know how things might have panned out had he not rejected the chance to take over at Ibrox in December 2017. Earlier that year, he also turned down the opportunity to take the reins at Sunderland. His decision to reject the Ibrox post, in particular, can’t have been easy for someone who had loved his time as a Rangers player. During all of the above, it’s also worth notingthat McInnes lost almost every player of quality who came through the ranks.
Kenny McLean, Ryan Jack, Scott McKenna, Graeme Shinnie, Jonny Hayes — for three years warming the bench at Celtic — right up to Sam Cosgrove and Scott Wright just a few months ago. Somehow, he has managed to rebuild the squad. Repeatedly.
As first, Brendan Rodgers and then Steven Gerrard began to pull clear of the pack. However, it was arguably the Dons who suffered most by comparison.
For the last couple of seasons, McInnes has cut a frustrated figure. He knows what he wants from his team, believes he has done well to recruit the likes of Lewis Ferguson and Ross McCrorie. But it hasn’t quite clicked. Back-to-back fourthplace finishes reflected pretty accurately on the lack of consistency.
And that brings us to the current campaign. Where the only certainty in life seems to be Aberdeen’s inability to score.
The worst barren spell in the club’s 118-year history may have been a symptom rather than the actual disease affecting the first team. It cannot have been helped by the Dons offloading their main striker(s) mid-season.
But it made it easier for the naysayers to gain traction when the arguments began to rage.
Just a few weeks ago, wellplaced sources were suggesting that the manager’s time was up. Not so much a false alarm as a slight jumping of the gun.
McInnes leaves behind a team still sitting pretty well placed to make a run at third, with Hibs no model of consistency themselves.
They have a chairman, Dave Cormack (pictured with McInnes), who clearly wants to put his own imprint on the club.
Whoever he finds to replace McInnes, though, it is pretty safe to assume that the departing gaffer’s place in the history books — behind only Fergie, Dave Halliday (1937-55), Jimmy Philip (1903-24) and Paddy Travers (1924-37), in terms of days in the hotseat — is unlikely to be challenged.