ALL WE WANT IS A LITTLE RESPECT
Fergie’s Dons were feared all over Europe but, right now, McInnes just covets that in Scottish game
DEREK McINNES is the 13th manager to have occupied the hot seat at Aberdeen since Alex Ferguson left for Old Trafford and footballing immortality 27 years ago next month.
Thankfully for those of a Dons persuasion, however, McInnes doesn’t believe there’s anything i nherently unlucky about the post that has become a poisoned chalice in other hands.
He was at Hampden yesterday to collect the Manager of the Month award for September, a small indication perhaps that a corner is f i nally being turned f or the under-achieving Pittodrie giants.
Yet a draw at St Mirren eight days ago and a defeat by Ross County in Dingwall last weekend would suggest t he October segment of the revolution will be late in starting.
Start it must, though, because McInnes is of the opinion that Aberdeen have been dormant for far too long.
Take, for example, the constant source of frustration that the domestic cup competitions represent for Dons fans.
Since t hey l ast graced a Hampden showpiece — the 2000 Scottish Cup Final which they lost 4-0 to Dick Advocaat’s Rangers — they have been outperformed by t heir peers and other, l ess well-appointed clubs.
In the 14 seasons since, Hearts (twice) and Dundee United have won the Scottish Cup while Livingston, Hibs, Kilmarnock and St Mirren have lifted the League Cup.
McInnes, then, is understandably desperate to restore the club’s tarnished reputation. Where Ferguson’s teams once ruled by fear in Europe, the starting point for McInnes is simply to be feared again domestically.
‘I remember the Aberdeen teams I played against, and the ones when I was growing up, and there were a lot of good sides after the Alex Ferguson era,’ he said.
‘Those teams all had that edge, there was a fear of them, good players, and you knew you had to play well against them to get a result.
‘We just need to get that respect back from our competitors, get that fear again in Scotland. Alex Ferguson’s teams had that in Europe but right now we just want to get it back in Scotland.’
Aberdeen visit Motherwell in the quarter-finals of the League Cup later this month and, with favourites Celtic already eliminated, the tournament is wide open. McInnes certainly believes Dons fans have waited l ong enough ( 18 years and counting) for silverware.
‘We can’t affect what’s happened in the past,’ he said. ‘We’ve seen other teams being successful through the league or the cups and we just want to get amongst it and get a slice of that.
‘Whether that comes this season or not, we can certainly strive for it. But it would be foolish for us to be saying we’re going to do this or that as we’ve only just started.
‘Aberdeen, like a few other teams, will be expected to have some sort of success over a period of time.
‘Fourteen years is a long time without reaching a final and you can see there’s a lot of frustration from the fans at times because of that. All we can do is keep them onside with us.’
That process will only be helped by holding on to their best players and McInnes has identified that as a priority.
‘We re-signed Niall McGinn and Ryan Jack because we want them to be part of something successful with us,’ he said.
‘ Of course, we’d never stop anyone moving on and would never want to restrict ambition as it’s a great thing for any young player to have. But we want our youngsters to stay with us and play 250 to 300 games, be part of a successful team before they move on.
‘In the past players have maybe played a handful of games and then disappeared. Nowadays clubs are having to play more youngsters and a lot of them are on the radar of clubs down south.
‘We can’t stop speculation. All we can do is make Aberdeen a club they want to be a part of. Hopefully, they see the bigger picture.
‘We have good young players who have shown a lot of potential. But it’s only potential. We have to make sure we do everything we can to help them become the players they can be. And that goes for the senior players, too.’
Aberdeen’s fans have taken to McInnes in a way they failed to do with two predecessors who, like him, were also former Rangers players, Alex Miller and Jimmy Calderwood.
The enmity between the clubs put both men at a disadvantage in the north- east but McInnes has been warmly received by comparison.
‘ It wasn’t mentioned i n the interview and, for me, it has not been an issue and nor should it be an issue,’ he said. ‘I’ll be judged on what we do on the pitch and my players will be judged on what we do on the pitch, not which club we used to play for.’
ABERDEEN striker Josh Magennis will undergo surgery for a knee injury today, the club has confirmed. Magennis has visited a specialist in London and will now have an exploratory operation in a bid to cure the problem that has forced him to pull out of the Northern Ireland squad for their World Cup qualifiers in Azerbaijan and Israel.