McInnes snub to Gers was great for Saints, says MacLean

Aberdeen fans weren’t the only ones relieved that Derek McInnes decided to stay at Pittodrie.

The St Johnstone players were delighted to hear the surprise news as well.

Because had it been the other way around, Steven MacLean would have expected Tommy Wright to be high on Stewart Milne’s wishlist to replace McInnes.

“Like everybody else, I’d thought he was away,” said MacLean.

“Then when I heard he’d stayed I was kind of shocked. I thought we might have been facing our gaffer on Wednesday and Del on Saturday! My initial thought was ‘well, our gaffer will be staying’.

“He would have had a massive chance of getting the Aberdeen job if Del had gone to Rangers.

“It’s hard to comment on why Del has made the decision to stay at Aberdeen because you don’t know what’s gone on.

“But I do know that Aberdeen will be delighted and so are we. You don’t know if our gaffer would have got the Aberdeen job but he would definitely have been linked with it. Both sides will have taken a lift from it.”

MacLean had his usual free Saturday as his team-mates played on an artificial pitch against Hamilton Accies.

The veteran forward was scouting for his manager and is ready to get his boots back on tonight.

“I wasn’t given the weekend off,” he said.

“I normally go to our games when I’m injured or it’s an artificial pitch but this time I watched a match for the gaffer which was a different experience. I’m raring to come back now.

“It’s a big week, with two tough games.

“You could argue that it’s the second and third best teams in the league, although Hibs would probably have something to say about that.

“Aberdeen and Rangers are matches you always look forward to.”

The former Dons forward added: “It was a good result on Saturday.

“It’s always a hard place to go and by all accounts the pitch was up to its usual high standards!

“It’s never going to be pretty there so it was a great win and it’s good for Scougs (Stefan Scougall) to get his first goal. Hopefully he can kick on now and get a few more.

“Getting that goal will be important for him. You’re always looking to get off the mark at a new club. It was a calm finish and he’s got a lot of quality as a player.”

Saints have got a very good record against Aberdeen in recent seasons but the 3-0 defeat at Pittodrie in September isn’t a fond memory.

“We were poor that day,” MacLean recalled.

“That can happen. But they outworked us and scored from three set-plays, which is very disappointing.

“You can lose games by the other team playing better but it’s not acceptable when you don’t do the dirty stuff.

“At the very least we need to make sure we’re hard to beat and well organised. I’m sure we will be.

“We’ve always had good games against them here and it’s one we’re really looking forward to.

“They’ll be delighted that Del has stayed and that they got a win on Friday night.

“I don’t think it was a great performance but they showed they can win games both ways. They’ll be looking to get second place in the league this season, that’s for sure.”

Meanwhile, promising midfielder Kyle McClean has signed a one-year extension to his existing deal, keeping him at McDiarmid Park until May 2019.

The 19-year-old joined Saints in the summer after a successful week’s trial and has been in the first team squad all season, making his debut as a substitute recently against Celtic.