The Courier & Advertiser (Fife Edition)
McInnes hopes to rejig squad for show of loyalty
Dons boss keen to maintain standards as he eyes January moves
Aberdeen manager Derek McInnes hopes his loyalty to the Dons is rewarded with an increased transfer budget next month.
The Dons boss will meet chairman Stewart Milne tomorrow to discuss options for the January transfer window and, after turning down the advances of Rangers, McInnes hopes he will be given extra cash to give the club the best possible chance of finishing in the top two.
McInnes refused to discuss Milne’s comments that Rangers owe the Aberdeen manager an apology for the controversial statement they released after the Dons announced the 46-yearold was staying in the north-east.
The Dons manager said: “I’m going to see him on Thursday so here’s hoping but there was nothing different said over the last period.
“In terms of what we can do in January we will find out then and we will assess the squad in the next few weeks and see if there is any willingness to rejig things.
“There may well be one or two opportunities to manipulate the squad a bit and bring one or two in.
“We brought in more than £100,000 for Stockley and more than £1 million in the deal for Jonny Hayes to Celtic.
“Some of that has been put back into the squad by paying money for Gary Mackay-Steven and Stevie May, as well as resigning players for the long term, so it has been reinvested.
“But we have brought some decent amounts of money in, attendances have been good and we have had an upturn in the revenue.
“It’s important that we get as much value on the pitch as possible and hopefully maintain the standards we have set in the last few years.
“Hopefully we can have a good January transfer window can help us do exactly that.”
Northern Ireland international Niall McGinn, a free agent after leaving South Korean side Gwangju, has been linked with a return to Pittodrie with Hibernian, Hearts and MK Dons also in pursuit.
McInnes said: “Niall is someone we speak to regularly and keep in touch with and we are well aware of his situation.
“He has just had his hernia operation and is recovering well from that but we know that free agents like him will have options.
“But hopefully there is some encouragement from Niall to come back here and if there is we hopefully will get the chance to work with him again.”
However McInnes accepted his side’s hopes of landing Motherwell forward Louis Moult appear over with Championship side Preston North End expected to complete a deal for the 25-year-old.
McInnes, who had two bids for the Motherwell striker rejected in the summer, added: “I think he’ll move on to bigger things.
“I felt if we didn’t get him in the summer that six months down the line it would be very difficult to secure him and that’s the way it has played out.”
St Johnstone’s 1-0 win against Hamilton at the weekend ended Accies’ six-game unbeaten run to give Tommy Wright’s side two wins in three after six games without a victory.
McInnes, a former Saints manager, said: “They are only a couple of points off where they were last year and you would never write St Johnstone off.
“They are always a team that ends up in the mix towards the end of the season at the right end of the table.
“And you wouldn’t bet against them doing it again this year. They have that experience of grinding out results.
“Sometimes you go on that sort of run where you don’t pick up points, but they are the type of team that can also go on winning runs and unbeaten runs so I think they will be confident from the result they had at the weekend.
“But whether we play a team in good form or indifferent form, we always stress to the players that it is about what we do and hopefully we can be good enough to get three points.”