PLEASE DON’T LEAVE US NOW BOSS
Lewis wants McInnes to stay loyal if Rangers come calling
Goalkeeper Joe lewis is hoping the desire to complete the journey he started with aberdeen will persuade Derek McInnes to eschew the overtures of managerless rangers.
McInnes, the former Ibrox midfielder, was conspicuous by his absence after full-time in Saturday’s Scottish Cup triumph in Dingwall, a victory that kept alive aberdeen’s hopes of avoiding a third successive trophyless season.
The question remained, though — will McInnes be there to see the cup campaign through?
assistant manager Tony Docherty fielded questions, insisting his presence was coincidental to speculation gathering over a possible approach for McInnes from the old Firm club and owed nothing to any wish to dodge questions.
It fell to lewis, then, to posit the theory — or at least the hope — that the stability, contentment and sense of unfinished business around pittodrie would make it difficult to wrench away a manager who has assembled an ambitious, talented and still unfulfilled set of players.
The 29-year-old giant, built with such physique and breadth of hands you feel he could single-handedly restrain McInnes from leaving, made it clear the players feel there is far more to achieve at the club beyond the fabled glass ceiling that tends to confront non-old Firm managers.
‘He’s a fantastic manager so, like when players get linked to other teams, it means he’s doing a good job,’ stressed lewis (right).
‘We’ll be happy for him to stay but he’s going to be linked with them because he’s done such a good job here. It comes with the territory of doing well.’
aberdeen showed calm diligence in finally seeing off ross County to land a place in the Scottish Cup last eight, where they now face partick Thistle. a trophy last hoisted in their name by alex Mcleish 27 years ago remains winnable amid a purple patch of form that has now brought seven wins from eight.
The sense of well-being and progress is powerful around pittodrie, attested to further by the presence of a record-breaking away crowd in Dingwall. Such was demand, County opened up part of their east Stand to the red army, swelling the away attendance to 2,791.
Contrast that with the lesssalubrious state rangers currently find themselves in and McInnes, clearly, should the question be asked, has a huge decision to make.
‘Some of the lads here in the last week or so have signed new deals and the fact they’re committing to the club shows people are happy here,’ said lewis, slipping into salesman mode with McInnes in mind.
‘It would have to be a very good offer for people to want to leave. We feel like we’ve got something very good going on here and we want to maintain it.
‘We just have to take each game as it comes. We feel like we’re building something good here and we want to keep it going. We won’t try to make predictions, but we’ll just keep going game by game and try to keep winning and keep performing well.’
This can’t have been a tie the Dons wanted to land or particularly relished, given County’s propensity for upsetting them down the years — the most recent setback coming in midDecember’s Dingwall league defeat.
But to their credit, the visiting side dictated play from the off, rarely wavering in their overall control of play. County showed solidity but relied on a clutch of fine saves from goalkeeper Scott Fox to keep individuals like Jonny Hayes, ryan Jack and Niall McGinn at bay. Before the eventual winner, Fox made a further incredible save as he pushed away a powerful andy Considine header. But the goal did come with just over three minutes remaining and from the most unlikely of sources — defender Shay logan. There looked to be little danger as he collected the ball 25 yards from goal far wide on the right, but the englishman cut back on to his left foot and curled a shot beyond the reach of the startled Fox and in off the far post.
‘We were on top for the vast majority of the game,’ said lewis. ‘When the draw came out we all knew it was a tough one for us, so we’re pleased to get through. We could have had a few more goals but their goalkeeper was fantastic.
‘We let ourselves down, really, with our performance in the league Cup final (against Celtic in November). everyone’s hungry to get back to Hampden and put things right.’
Fox could take little joy from his own exploits in defeat. He now feels anything short of top six football for County will amount to failure.
‘It’s gutting just now,’ the former Celtic youth player admitted.
‘We stayed in it. It wasn’t our best performance but we restricted their chances. We were disappointed with ourselves for not creating enough chances, but for them to score so late on is kind of gutting.
‘They had a few chances but it was nothing major.’