THE path Rangers might have chosen and the one they did will converge at Pittodrie this afternoon. Whether Derek McInnes was ever a serious contender for the recent managerial vacancy at Ibrox – and whether he would have taken the job – will forever remain topics for conjecture. Instead McInnes will be once again in the Aberdeen dug-out as they look to claim an 11th successive home victory against a Rangers side now managed by Pedro Caixinha. The Portuguese is still in the infancy of his tenure in Scottish football but, after a sticky start, there may be some among the visiting support looking at McInnes and wondering just what might have been.
“Derek has done a fantastic job at Aberdeen and they certainly wouldn’t have been happy if Rangers had come after him,” said Archie Knox, the veteran Scottish coach who had spells as assistant manager at both clubs. “And I assume Derek would have been interested. But Rangers have chosen their man and have to go ahead with him and see how that develops over the next period of time.”
Knox has been impressed with what McInnes has achieved in guiding Aberdeen into second place in the Premiership – 12 points ahead of today’s visitors – the League Cup final, and the forthcoming semi-final of the William Hill Scottish Cup against Hibernian. The man who for years was Sir Alex Ferguson’s right-hand man sees no reason why they can’t go on to lift the trophy.
“I don’t think there’s any doubt about that,” he said. “They are solid and 10 home victories in a row is a phenomenal record. Their confidence is sky high at the minute. They don’t see anyone that can stand in their way. Alright it was only 1-0 against Inverness the other night but it can’t be 7-0 or a big score every week.
“They’ve shown if they don’t lose a goal then you can win a game. Confidence helps that. If you are winning every week then nothing is standing in your way. There are not that many changes in the team. They’ve been fantastic this season and there’s no reason why they can’t go on and beat Hibs in the semi-final. They’ve a good chance of winning the trophy.”
There is a theory that coaches can spot early on if a player under their charge has the potential to one day follow them into management but Knox says he saw little of that when working with McInnes during the pair’s time together at Ibrox in the late 1990s.
“You couldn’t really tell because he was a younger lad at the time,” Knox recalled. “He didn’t play all the time when he joined us from Morton. He was in and out the team. We went down to play in Ted McMinn’s testimonial in front of around 17,000 Rangers supporters. I remember him saying to Walter [Smith], 'Any chance I could get 90 minutes today?' 'Naw, it depends how you’re getting on'.”
Should he stay at Pittodrie beyond the summer, McInnes’ next task will be rebuilding his squad with the likes of Niall McGinn, Peter Pawlett and a few others slated to move on.
“They've got the advantage that they are going to be in Europe,” Knox said. “There are only one or two teams can offer that in Scotland but if these lads are capable of playing at a higher level down in England then the money is the thing, isn't it? There's no comparison to what they can get down in England, probably even in League One, never mind the Championship, but they will certainly get far superior money in the Championship than what they can get at Aberdeen.”
Rangers have a similar issue with talented prospects wanting to leave, with 15-year-old Billy Gilmour said to be on the cusp of a move to Chelsea. Knox shakes his head at the thought.
“I have only seen two players in my entire life that at 14 or 15 years of age you would put money on to be top players; Wayne Rooney was one and Ryan Giggs was the other,” he said. “All the rest; [Paul] Scholes, [Nicky] Butt, [David] Beckham, and the Neville brothers - although Phil captained England's Under-16 schoolboys when he was 14 - you wouldn't have known for sure.
"It's a complete nonsense that we should be putting laddies under that sort of pressure at 15. How do you know? I have seen the lad playing and he's talented and can look after the ball but there's so many other things to take into account. My advice is to stick with what you've got and see how you are going to progress because you can go to these places and just become another number.”
- Archie Knox was speaking at a William Hill media event. William Hill is the proud sponsor of the Scottish Cup.’
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