Derek McInnes has, today, somewhat spoiled the Scottish media’s “Old Firm” party by telling the press that he is not in the least bit concerned with the possibility of having to fight it out with Sevco for second spot in the league.
He’s more interested in challenging Celtic for the title.
This is the first time, and hopefully it won’t be the last, when another football boss, sick and tired of the presumption out of Ibrox, has firmly stated that, in his view, the NewCo is of little relevance.
The Dons boss has worked hard, as have the club’s board, to make them into the second force in Scottish football.
The arrogance of Sevco to simply assume they can waltz into that spot with no resistance at all has long been one of the most offensive aspects of the Survival Myth.
McInnes hasn’t been as successful as the media would have you believe; if he had really turned his Aberdeen team into the all-singing all-dancing side they write about (with some even suggested he’s the best boss in Scotland, a gross insult to many, including, you could argue, our own boss and Hearts boss Robbie Neilson as well as John Hughes and Tommy Wright, who’ve both got a Scottish Cup to their names) they’d be sitting in front of us right now.
For all that, his side is definitely the second biggest club in the country at the present time, with a resurgent Hearts making a good play for third this year.
Inverness, Partick, St Johnstone, Motherwell, Ross County and others also stand in Sevco’s way.
McInnes is right on the subject of Sevco and clearly unhappy with a media narrative that treats his club and others as a mere afterthought.
His decision to speak out on the matter should send a warning to the hacks, and to the governing bodies, that it isn’t going to be that easy.
Warburton’s team has gotten used to playing against small clubs, many of them part time, operating on a fraction of his side’s resources.
Whilst this disparity will certainly still exist in the SPL, mostly as a consequence of soft loans if Sevco find people daft enough to provide them, the gap will be much less than it currently is and the smooth procession many at Ibrox and in the media expect and which they’re taking for granted will be nowhere near as clean and easy as they think.
The Ibrox egomaniacs are in for a rude awakening.