McInnes: Cleaning boots set me on the way

DEREK McINNES was accustomed to grafting hard for little reward while on the YTS scheme at Morton.

Long days cleaning showers, floors and boots was the standard slog after training at Cappielow.

So when former Aberdeen midfielder John McMaster promised a prize at the end of an extra duty demanded of he and his team-mates, McInnes and pals threw themselves into an arduous afternoon helping the assistant manager to move house.

‘We were involved lifting, hauling his stuff up to the house in Erskine for five or six hours,’ recalled McInnes. ‘We helped lift the shed, built the shed in the garden. The rain was teeming down.

‘And I kept saying to myself: “C’mon, he’s going to give us that reward, we’re going to get something”. So at the end of it all, the last bit of furniture came off and he just said: “Right take your shoes off now”. We were allowed in the house at last, all soaked through. And he took us through to where his European Cup Winners’ Cup medal was, just sitting on its own.

‘He said: “There you go, have a good look at it, take it in. Now off you go”. So that was it. That was our reward — the chance to see his medal. It’s funny now.’

To earn a medal of their very own before the year is out, all that McInnes asks of his Aberdeen players is to win two more Betfred Cup games. The first test is on Saturday against Morton, the club where it all began for the Aberdeen manager and where he spent eightand-a-half years. McInnes (pictured left) only has fond recollections of the men who sent a skinny, floppy-haired teenage midfielder on the right track down at Greenock. ‘John McMaster was really the guy who moulded me, got a hold of me,’ explained McInnes. ‘He and Allan McGraw were hard on me but fair. Every day as a YTS was eventful. It was tough, demanding, but it certainly didn’t do us any harm.’ However, aptitude with a mop was never going to define a talent as prodigious as McInnes. He was thrown into the first team mix by ‘Mr Morton’ McGraw when they played top-flight football during the relegation season of 1987-88.

Two years later, McGraw had the conviction to appoint him captain at the age of 18. A dislocated kneecap and a year out threatened his career at 20. By November 1995, he signed for Walter Smith at Rangers and all the hard graft back to fitness had been worth it.

‘I’ve a real affection for the club and a lot to thank them for,’ said McInnes. ‘Allan McGraw had the confidence to play me in the first team at 16. And when I look back, the season after relegation was one in transition, they played me every week.

‘I probably didn’t deserve to stay in the team but he kept on playing me. It wasn’t all singing and dancing because I had a serious injury there. But every time I think of Morton I think of good memories and good people.

‘The chairman Douglas Rae was a director when I was there. I go down to see them as long as I can, it’s not too far from where the family home was. I always want Morton to win games. It’s good to see Jim Duffy doing good work there.’

Sentiment will evaporate on Saturday when McInnes bids to secure his 2013/14 winners a shot at lifting another League Cup.

‘The motivation to do well and get to a final will be screaming out of both teams,’ predicted McInnes. ‘I have full respect for the job Jim has done, I’ve seen Morton a few times over the last 18 months and you can see the organisation.

‘They also carry a threat. They are inventive at set plays, keep you guessing. They’ve a good thing going there and that pleases me.

‘But, come Saturday, the importance is there for my club, too.’