This weekend, Graeme Murty will take his third game in charge of Sevco. If he wins it the voices raised in exultation and hope that he gets the gig full time will increase in volume. If he wins the one after that it’s as good as his to lose.
The two matches after that will be the testers, but the Sevco board is well aware of that and it may well be that they are already getting ready to make sure they have as good a chance of winning those as possible.
And all of this is clear enough to see. All of it is predictable.
If Murty beats McInnes there’s no need to hire McInnes, is there?
This is the logic and it is an unescapable logic and one they are crossing their fingers for. The best chance you give Murty is to unsettle McInnes prior to the match and what better way to do it than to maintain this “we’re still looking” charade right up until the days before the game? Then, and only then, will Sevco makes its approach for the Aberdeen boss.
You can see this coming a mile away; the approach will be made with that game on the horizon. On no account will be it an approach that Aberdeen can accept; Sevco will deliberately low ball the offer, and that will lead to days of speculation.
Acceptance isn’t the point or even the intention. The speculation is. That’s the scam.
The media will take their cue from some low Level briefing, making sure that the whole narrative prior to the match becomes about whether McInnes will want to damage Sevco’s chances – i.e. his own chances – by beating them. If he wants the job, that’s what he’s got to weigh. Would he want to inflict two defeats on the club he next takes over? Would he want a gap that size to overcome? The pressure on him and on his club will be unbearable.
And if he folds under it? Sevco will say that the club demanded too much, and drop dark hints that Murty cleaned his clock and so is the better option.
If McInnes wins the games in spite of that pressure they can keep their options open and make a better bid, having proven that he is a superior boss to their interim manager.
This is what you’d do if you were in charge of recruitment over there and you were smart.
If they are hiring outside of the club McInnes is the least option their fans will accept and probably the best the club can afford. If they can convince him the majority of their supporters will believe he’s been sold on some immaculate vision and that will hold for a while.
Of course, there is a risky element to this; if McInnes actually states, for the record, when the approach is made that he’s not interested in the dire Sevco job and then goes out and wins both games, that’s going to backfire on the board massively. Could they still appoint Murty under those circumstances, on top of him being second choice?
Risk is going to be part of this process for them whatever they do; it would be just like that lot not to think long-term but to take a chance like this on the outcome of a handful of games. But this is Sevco. Nothing is too stupid to be true.