McInnes knows rebuild could be a roller coaster
DEREK McINNES has already begun the process of assembling version 5.0 of his Aberdeen team but, no matter how thorough his groundwork, he knows he’ll probably still end up negotiating a deal at the top of a roller coaster in Florida.
The acquisition of Inverness midfielder Greg Tansey on a pre-contract represented the first step towards his fifth season in charge and the Pittodrie boss hopes to seal a couple more deals before he heads Stateside on his annual family break.
However, with Niall McGinn — a key player for the entirety of McInnes’s tenure — set to depart under freedom of contract and Ryan Christie’s loan from Celtic due to expire, he has his work cut out to maintain the cutting edge of a side poised to cement its status as Scotland’s second force for the third successive year.
McInnes also wants the Scottish Cup but, if his players do overcome Hibs to make it to the final on May 29, he will have the narrowest of windows in which to focus on his recruitment for next season, a campaign which will begin with Europa League qualifiers at the end of June.
He says: ‘Your summer holidays are important but if we get to the cup final — and I’m not assuming anything — I’ll literally have two weeks to get a squad ready. I’ll lose a few so I need to bring bodies in. I can remember where I was when I’ve managed to get each player over the line, whether it’s the top of a roller coaster or in the queue for the Harry Potter ride.
‘I’ve been standing with my kids waiting to go on a water slide and I’ve still had my phone with me because I’ve got an agent on the other end.’
In order to maximise his time on the thrill rides and flumes, McInnes will first look close to home to try to fill some of the gaps in his squad.
Aberdeen’s financial muscle should allow him to recruit the best available talent in the SPFL but, taken out of a Scottish context, the club’s spending power diminishes. It then comes down to contacts and phone battery life as McInnes pursues the sort of loan deal that has seen Liverpool goalkeeper Danny Ward and Norwich schemer James Maddison head north over the past couple of years.
‘If Niall goes, which looks likely, we can’t just get someone with 51 caps for their country and who’ll produce the form he has,’ he admits. ‘Sometimes you need to go and get a youngster or a loan. You can’t always do it on what we can pay.
‘I’m confident we’ve elevated the club in a way that Aberdeen is now seen as a good place to play but, ultimately, money talks. I’ve always tried to look at better players in our own league. It’s worked well for us with Kenny McLean, Graeme Shinnie and now Tansey.
‘When you do that, you take away any wage concerns.’
McInnes is coy on the specifics but Hearts winger Sam Nicholson and Hamilton’s ever-improving defender Mikey Devlin have admirers at Pittodrie. Christie, too, would hold appeal if Brendan Rodgers were to consent to a second loan spell. The former Inverness playmaker has struggled to force his way into a well-oiled starting XI but has integrated impressively since making his January switch. ‘I’ve been so pleased with Ryan, what a boy he is,’ enthuses McInnes. ‘He’s someone I’d love to work with longer-term if I could. ‘He’s a good fit for us. Everything is 100-per-cent with Ryan, whether it’s sprints, shooting, possession or in the gym. He leaves nothing behind. He’s found it tough to get into our team in front of McGinn, Jack, Shinnie, McLean and Hayes.
‘But he got two assists in half an hour against Dundee last week. He’s exactly what we’d look for in a player.’
That McInnes is already exerting so much brain power over next season while the current campaign is live and at its defining stage is an indication of how consuming the job is.
If his summer holidays must be disrupted affairs then the 45-year-old makes a point of switching off on the one free day a week he allows himself.
‘At first, I was the same as any young manager — my day off was consumed with work. Now I try to spend time with my family. Because you spend too much time on your phone or laptop, studying teams or taking training. There is enough time in the week to do that.’
If there’s a subject that irks McInnes it’s the recurring suggestion that, over the last couple of seasons, his team in some way blew their chance to become the first team outside of Glasgow to claim a Scottish title since 1985.
With Celtic in experimental and cost-cutting mode under the tutelage of Ronny Deila and Rangers out of the equation altogether, McInnes’ Aberdeen stepped forward and mounted a challenge.
Ultimately they could not bridge the gap and for that the manager is unapologetic.
‘Ronny Deila’s team only lost three
I will be losing a few players, so I need to bring some bodies in
games last season,’ he counters. ‘Two of those defeats came against us and the other to Motherwell, so I don’t see how we could have won the league.
‘People say that was our big chance and we blew it but, actually, we needed Celtic to lose a bit more. We needed them to be poorer. Normally, a team that wins the title has only lost five games and got to 80 points at least. Ronny Deila’s team were on a par with that.’
He continues: ‘(Jurgen) Klopp took Danny Ward back in January and then Adam Rooney did his thigh the first week in February and was out for the season, so we lost our No1 and No 9. That had a massive impact.
‘You see the difference now with us now having a right good goalie in Joe Lewis, while Rooney is just shy of 20 goals.
‘The equivalent would have been Celtic losing Craig Gordon and Leigh Griffiths. When Celtic were unconvincing, Griffiths would pull them out of a hole.
‘Watching them the last couple of seasons, we would always get some sort of encouragement — they weren’t always convincing in their work, they would ship a lot of late goals, lack concentration at the back.
‘This season they are less dependent on one player and that makes it so much harder to take them on. This is the best Celtic team I have faced.
‘Brendan Rodgers has been great for the league and great for Celtic.’
So, if the Rodgers era means Celtic can’t be caught, where do Aberdeen go from here?
‘We have put ourselves in a good position — if we can finish second and get to two cup finals that, for me, is impressive work.
‘But we want the trophy at the end of it.’
The mobile phone will be as essential as the sun block and shades this summer.
A screensaver selfie featuring the Scottish Cup in place of Mickey Mouse would make it harder to put down.