DEREK MCINNES has insisted Rangers should be embarrassed by finishing behind his Aberdeen team in the Premiership and criticised Pedro Caixinha’s public comments about the Pittodrie club.
The Portuguese claimed Aberdeen’s “cycle” was coming to an end, that he aims to finish above them next season and even broke the managers' code when he admitted his admiration for Aberdeen captain Ryan Jack, who has been linked with a move to Ibrox.
McInnes, a former Rangers player himself, took severe umbrage with Caxinha’s press conference on Monday in which he spoke more about Aberdeen than his own side, who are at Ibrox tonight for a game which has now become even more of a grudge match than usual.
"I found it all a bit strange, I don't know why he's commenting so much on us,” said McInnes. "If he thinks them being on the up and being brilliant by finishing above Aberdeen is good work by him then he's way off the mark.
"Any manager with the budget he has, which is five or six times what we've got, should be finishing second. They should be embarrassed they've not finished second.
"I think the Rangers fans are used to having people do a lot of talking towards them, whether that's owners, managers or players saying what they want to hear. The reality is that the job of a Rangers manager is to finish above Celtic. So if he thinks he's going to do a brilliant job by finishing above Aberdeen then he'll quickly realise that's not enough.
"We all have a different way of managing and I think he likes to say what the Rangers fans want to hear. But the Rangers fans can't be kidded because they have been over that course before.
"Rangers should be finishing second with the budget they have, there's no doubt about that. But I don't think they should be delighted with that, finishing second in the league.”
Jack is out of contract at the end of the season and is a player Caixinha spoke about scouting, although the midfielder’s first choice would be to try his luck in England or the MLS in America.
"At this stage of the season you always get asked about players and speculation,” said McInnes. “That's the job we are all in and it's normally the unwritten rule we don't talk about other teams' players.
“I think that's how the majority of people manage. I don't think he should be speaking about one of my players, but each to their own. I have spoken to Ryan often enough and he's told me his intention is to go to England if he doesn't stay here. I have got to take him at his word on that.”
McInnes promised the Aberdeen supporters that everything will be done to improve a squad who have for three years been the best of the rest and face Celtic in this month’s William Hill Scottish Cup final.
“All we have done at Aberdeen is try to improve and we will aim for that to continue,” he said. "If we lose players, as looks likely, then we will try to replace them with good players. The only real surprise is that we have managed to hold on to them for four seasons.
"We have done well as a club but there comes a natural course where players look for a change, something different or a bigger salary. That is the way we work in football, there's no surprise and it's how you deal with it.
"The Aberdeen fans can be assured that if we lose good players we'll sign good players. I am used to building squads, I have experience of doing that over the last 10 years.”
Aberdeen have already signed Greg Tansey of Inverness and former Celtic star Shaun Maloney is expected to join in the summer as well. McInnes doesn’t have a transfer budget to speak of but he sees no reason why his side can't improve after what is likely to be his busiest summer at the club.
"I have reiterated that to the players and will say it again to the supporters: we are confident of getting good players in who will keep us competitive and maintain the standards,” he said. “That focus falls on the recruitment team and the board to make sure that's the case.
"We have to maximise what we've got and every signing is critical because we have a small squad. We have to utilise what we have to spend well and I don't think you can get too concerned about what others are spending.
"We operate in a league where others will spend more, but it's about taking the most of what you have. We have done that over the last few years and I don't see any reason that will change.
"We are restricted in what we can pay and the stadium and training ground is still an issue, but we have still been able to bring good players here.”
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