Cup glory must be the priority for Mcinnes

● Mcleish says ending Aberdeen’s 27-year wait to lift trophy is more important than league placing for the Pittodrie manager

For Alex Mcleish, the steps at Hampden which led to lifting the Scottish Cup were once almost as familiar to him as his own garden path.

Between 1982 and 1990, he played in five finals for Aberdeen and emerged with a winners’ medal on every occasion. Scottish football’s oldest and most famous piece of silverware was almost part of the furniture at Pittodrie.

Mcleish can scarcely credit that almost three decades have now passed since Aberdeen last claimed the trophy, that 1990 penalty shootout triumph over Celtic which completed his own nap hand of Scottish Cup victories.

It is why Mcleish has no doubt that Aberdeen manager Derek Mcinnes would happily trade second place in the Premiership this season for the more tangible reward of success at Hampden on 27 May.

“I can’t believe it’s 27 years since Aberdeen won the Scottish Cup,” said Mcleish. “It’s too long. I think Derek would take winning the cup ahead of being runners-up in the league. We are all greedy as managers, we want everything. But if you were saying, ‘Scottish Cup or second place’, he would take the silverware.”

Winning the League Cup three seasons ago, to give Aberdeen their first major trophy for 19 years, has been the high point so far of Mcinnes’ tenure. His own self-confessed desire to leave a legacy of more regular success at the club has increased the onus on him to prove that wasn’t simply a oneoff.

“Derek has done a good job at Aberdeen, given the budget hasn’t been huge,” added Mcleish. “He has had quite a solid team. In terms of selection it’s been pretty consistent. It’s been the same players year in and year out.

“At some stage that will come to a stop and then whether Derek stays and builds again remains to be seen. But I think he would probably be itching for another stab at the silverware. He would look back with great pride over the period he has been there if he won a couple of trophies.

“When I played for Aberdeen, we took it for granted. We won three Scottish Cups in a row from ‘82 to ‘84, then won it again in ‘86 and for the last time in that penalty shootout in 1990. We went through our career thinking, ‘It’s going to be the same every year.’ That’s why you get all the advice from the old pros to savour it when you win it. Sometimes it dries