FORGET IT
Blow for Rangers as Milne claims McInnes wants to stay at Dons
THE Rangers managerial saga took a sensational twist last night when Aberdeen chairman Stewart Milne claimed Derek McInnes would be staying at Pittodrie.
Four weeks after Pedro Caixinha was sacked, the Ibrox board have yet to make their move to land his successor, despite Dons boss McInnes being the firm favourite for the past month.
Sources at Rangers have repeatedly played down the significance of the fact that the club had not sought permission to speak to McInnes. And last night, they were adamant a move could still happen.
But speaking on Aberdeen’s official
website, Milne said: ‘Derek made his position very clear to me last night that he has no intentions of going anywhere. ‘He loves this club. He knows he’s loved, he knows he’s respected by everyone at the club and the fans out there. ‘I think anybody who heard Derek speak (at the new stadium hearing) about his passion for this club — it’s a big, big part of his life. ‘He firmly believes he has unfinished business here. He’s always said to me that he didn’t want to leave this club with just one trophy in the boardroom. ‘It’s great news for everyone that he is committed. He just wants to get on doing the job. He spent a lot of time, effort and money over the summer to rebuild the team. ‘Since this, he has re-signed a number of players to extend their contracts and everyone recognises the fantastic job he and Tony Docherty (assistant manager) have done. ‘No one wants to see him leave. I know he will one day but we all dearly hope he will be here for quite some time.’ McInnes has repeatedly refused to be drawn on speculation linking him with a return to his former club and Milne believes the fact the move to a new stadium and training ground complex, which the 46-year-old has championed, is inching closer is a huge incentive for him to stay. ‘He never misses an opportunity to remind me of that,’ added Milne. ‘He has declared his commitment to the club and wants to make sure my commitment — and the board’s — is right behind him both in terms of doing everything we can to deliver the training facilities. ‘We genuinely believe we can have them on the ground by the summer of 2019.’