Derek McInnes said some pretty interesting things today, about the possibility of moving to Ibrox. His comments about Sevco not making a move for him are pretty open and shut, but he said something that was even more interesting; he spoke of managers having a duty to themselves to do “due diligence” before they make a career move.
The media can only interpret that one way; he is suggesting that Sevco is a mess and that he would be mad to consider going there whilst they remain one.
Last season he had a chance to go to Sunderland; ironically enough, that chance might come around again because they just sacked their manager. McInnes lamented this, and the tendency in England for clubs to sack manager’s after only brief periods in the job. But crucially, he said that this is something more and more happening in Scotland.
He clearly doesn’t mean Kilmarnock. Caixinha’s tenure at Ibrox was the second shortest spell in their history. It’s only seven months since McInnes was last being linked with the Sevco job. He had a lucky escape last time, and things are much worse now.
He is well aware of that, as he pointed out.
“Results play out on the pitch but it’s managing circumstances and what happens throughout the club that normally gives the manager the best chance … Managers aren’t blameless when they don’t get results, of course, but whether a manager is deemed a success or not can be far more difficult if it’s not a stable environment … I think you see so many instances where managers who are allowed to do their job and focus on the job at hand under a good structure then results have a better chance of following.”
Brendan has said something similar these past few weeks, so McInnes is clearly echoing him to a certain extent, and supporting the idea that Celtic is a good place to be, but he’s got a similar setup at Aberdeen right now, which has been key to his own successes.
No-one can rightly say that about Sevco; their club is a shambles. It is anything but a “stable environment” and whilst Mark Allen talks about putting a “good structure” in place the fact John Brown is on the scouting team should give any manager pause.
Ibrox is surrounded by a swirling storm of uncertainty, with everything from the chairman’s position to whether or not they can keep on the lights up for grabs. Only a madman would walk out of a good job to go and sup from that poisoned chalice.
McInnes has partially embarrassed Sevco today by telling the world they’ve not even bothered to open talks with Aberdeen yet. This is his way of perhaps telling them not to waste their time doing it. He knows what’s at stake; his reputation and perhaps his future in the game.
When Pittodrie is seen as a better place to work from than Ibrox, you know we’ve come full circle. You know the writing is definitely on the wall. The media might not want to admit it and the governing bodies might be loathe to accept it, but the duopoly has been shattered. We’re living in interesting times folks.