DEREK McInnes last night admitted it would take “something special” for him to leave Aberdeen as Sunderland step up their attempts to replace Davie Moyes as manager.
The 45-year-old was left heartbroken on Saturday when an injury-time Tom Rogic goal saw his team lose 2-1 to Celtic in the William Hill Scottish Cup final at Hampden.
But the Pittodrie club’s outstanding performance still capped a memorable season - they reached the Betfred Cup final and finished second in the Ladbrokes Premiership for the third season running.
McInnes has been installed as one of the bookmakers’ favourites to take over from Moyes at the Stadium of Light club as a result of his success in the north-east during the past four years.
The Black Cats, relegated from the Barclays Premier League this season, have made Nigel Clough, currently in charge at Burton Albion, and McInnes their main targets and are keen to make an appointment quickly.
But the former St. Johnstone and Bristol City manager, who looks set to lose several key players during the summer, stressed he was actively trying to recruit new signings and wouldn’t be easily tempted away.
“I’ve said it often enough, I love working here,” he said. “I think it’s a brilliant club, I feel at home here. It would take something special for me to want to leave.
“The work’s ongoing. For the last seven, eight months, we’ve been trying to bring players in here. We’ve anticipated a few players leaving, we’ve tried really hard to keep one or two, with some being late on in terms of leaving.
“The work’s constant. You don’t get a chance to stop and reflect. From tomorrow on the focus is on recruitment and getting good players in. We need to make sure we get good players working in the building and ready to go again.
“We’ve got good players, we’re losing a few, we’ll get good ones in and there’s no reason to suggest we can’t keep confident and keep going forward.”
McInnes added: “I still feel that while finishing second, even saying it, it doesn’t always sit right with me, there’s no disgrace or embarrassment finishing second to this Celtic team.
“I think that for the distance between them and the rest, even just the financial side of it, we can bridge the gap in so many different aspects; organisation and bringing in a certain type of player.
“Unfortunately, we couldn’t bridge the gap at Hampden by having more options and different types of forward players to win the game for us.”
McInnes, though, feels Aberdeen, who took the lead in the cup final with an early Jonny Hayes goal, deserve enormous credit for competing with Celtic despite having a fraction of their budget for players.
“My whole squad equates to £42,000 a week, my whole squad,” he said. “I am sure there are probably one or two Celtic players on around that figure. For us to bridge the gap is hard. It is so difficult to find a player who can make a difference in this type of game. If they gave out a cup on Saturday for effort and big hearts I think we would have won it.
“But class tells at times in defining moments. We had moments to get our noses in front on Saturday and we didn’t. It was through no lack of effort from the players. They couldn’t have given me any more.
“We arrived for pre-season 351 days ago. We had got a tight squad and they have knocked their pans in from minute one. They have given us a brilliant season, they have. It could have been more special if we had won on Saturday.
“But the focus falls upon myself, the recruitment team and the board in the window to bring reinforcements that allows us to be confident enough that this period we are in will continue and we can get to cup finals and have a shot at winning a trophy.
“I feel this is what we do now at Aberdeen; we get to cup finals and turn up at Hampden. I like that, there’s a confidence about us now, we feel at home. The performance on Saturday was hands down, miles ahead of where we were in November in the League Cup final. We will look to get good players in and I am confident we will have more cup finals.”
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