Darian’s cut out to be a hit in the dugout
“It’s more as if they’re a schoolteacher and that gets your back up. Or they say, ‘get out my face’. “See all that stuff? I know it shouldn’t annoy you but it does and makes you think, ‘right, I don’t like this guy’.” There has been a growing clamour for Video Assistant Referees to be introduced into Scottish football to help refs get it right. But MacKinnon believes it’s the controversial mistakes that help make the game more interesting. He added: “I can understand why they want to introduce VAR, especially at the highest levels where there’s so much money involved. But I quite like the controversy. “You see Rangers getting a goal that should have been given offside at Hearts, and then they didn’t get one at Dundee that they should have. “If we didn’t have incidents like that people would have Hamilton Accies boss Martin Canning has backed Darian MacKinnon to follow in his footsteps when the midfielder finally hangs up his boots.
MacKinnon, 33, has already started coaching Accies’ Under-17s alongside team-mate Dougie Imrie in preparation for a life after playing.
Canning, who also began his coaching career with Hamilton’s youth teams, said: “Darian got involved in the coaching side at the start of last season.
“He is very good with the kids. Him and Dougie take the same team – you can imagine what that is like!
“Darian has a good manner. Sometimes if you see him on the pitch you can get the wrong impression, he is snarly and puts himself about.
“But he is good with the kids. I nothing to talk about. You want all that mad stuff.
“Obviously you don’t want referees getting slaughtered every week but these incidents make the game what it is.
“It’s just human error from refs, and players are the same.
“If you watch me, I’m pretty sure I’m giving the ball away plenty times. The refs are just unfortunate that they’ve got 22 people plus the managers going for them if they make a bad decision.”
MacKinnon used to get more cards than the Royal Mail at Christmas but he admitted the fear he was letting his team- mates down caused him to change his attitude and become even more of a key man for boss Martin Canning.
He added: “When I first came in I was constantly on at referees and then I real ised I was getting booked far too often. I still get the odd yellow and red card but I’ve curbed a lot of that behaviour.
“You don’t want to let the boys down. You don’t mind the odd one – but you can’t have stupid red cards all the time as you just become a liability.
“You still want to be aggressive and set the tone but you don’t want to get those stupid red cards that I got before.
“I coach the kids on a Sunday and I started when I was nearly 30 taking the Under-17s as well.
“I’d two-and-a-half seasons with them before Alex Neil left and I ended up with the first-team job and it definitely was a big help to me. It stands you in good stead for the future.”
Canning (below) takes his players to Ibrox this afternoon looking for a repeat of last year’s shock result when Accies beat Rangers 2-0.
He added: “When you go to Ibrox or Parkhead in front of 50,000 or 60,000 fans, things have got to go right for you and not quite so right for them.
“We beat Celtic at Parkhead and we beat Rangers the last time too. They missed a couple of opportunities that day. We have got to be can’t tell them not to shout at referees if they’ve seen me doing it on a Saturday. So you need to curb your temper.”
MacKinnon’s deal is up in the summer but he wants to end his career at Accies.
He revealed: “I just feel that I’ve been part of this club for so long now that I want to stay here until I finish playing.
“They gave me my chance so I just want to show them some loyalty back. I just hope I can stay for another two years and that would be me done.
“As soon as I turned 30 I decided I didn’t want to go anywhere else. If major clubs came in – which probably wouldn’t happen – you would go, but for clubs just around about us in the table I’m not interested.”
MacKinnon revealed he turned down life-changing money just a few years ago.
He added: “Thre e Scottish clubs have tried to sign me since I came here but I’ve made the right decision staying.
“The season we beat Dundee United to stay up I had a cast-iron offer to treble my money elsewhere but I stayed.
“Everyone talks about money but happiness is important too. I’m well looked after here.
“I came here when I was 26 and didn’t do well to start. But they stuck by me and kept giving me new deals and I think I’ve repaid them with my performances.” clinical again. You have got to defend well from one to 11, we have got to have guys playing well and if we do that then we are capable of getting a proper result.” Accies have lost their last two games against Dundee and Hibs and MacKinnon hopes the rot will stop against Rangers. He said: “We’re going to have to get a win from somewhere and what better place to go get three points at than Ibrox. “When you go there, you need your goalkeeper to play well. You need your luck and bit of quality as well,so you’re just hoping someone steps up. “You have to stay 0-0 for the first 20 minutes then start to play your way into the game. If you lose a goal in that time then you can’t crumble or it’s a real tough afternoon.”