When Stephen Hendry beat Jimmy White for the fourth time in a world snooker final back in 1994, White famously joked: 'he's beginning to annoy me now'. Of course, Jimmy wasn’t kidding, he was completely serious about the situation he had once more found himself in.
How Derek McInnes must have felt a little bit like that about Brendan Rodgers after the Scottish Cup final on Saturday. There can be no doubt that Celtic have deserved to win the treble this season having played a brand of swashbuckling, attacking football that has swept aside all before them. But Aberdeen themselves have had a wonderful season under Derek, being unfortunate to finish runners-up in everything domestically behind the rampant Hoops.
They say that no-one remembers the runners-up and they rarely do, but McInnes and his Aberdeen team deserve massive credit for the way they have performed this season. All the talk at the start of the season was that Rangers were going to be the big challengers to Celtic and the Dons were dismissed by a fair few.
But the consistency they have shown not just this season but over the last two or three years has been terrific. Now though, with the impending departures of two key players in Ryan Jack and Niall McGinn, plus probably Ash Taylor as well, it also poses the question for me, as to how much more Derek McInnes can actually do at Aberdeen?
It's very difficult to lose these types of players and replace them on the same money, and not have the performance level of the side upset, effectively, too keep pulling rabbits out of hats.
There can be no doubt he will go battering on the door in the next week or so, maybe he already has, to the ask the board for a bigger budget, to go from the £2000 or £3000/a week market, to possibly shopping for players in the four or five grand bracket, just to bring in better quality to get closer to Celtic and stay ahead of Rangers.
If he gets that investment, he might back himself for one more year, to try and win some silverware. But will it matter in the greater scheme of things when you know Celtic are so far in front and will strengthen with big money again this summer under the shrewd Rodgers?
It looks like trying to climb Mount Everest in a pair of flip flops.
You would also expect a far bigger challenge from Rangers. They surely cannot be as poor as they have been for long spells this season. The same applies to Hearts. Both managers – Pedro Caixinha at Ibrox and Ian Cathro through in the capital –will crucially have a summer window to recruit better players. Also throw in a buoyant, confident Hibernian who will no doubt be eyeing a top-four place, then suddenly it looks a far stronger league in terms of depth.
I have said at the beginning of the last few seasons, that Derek has been on a hiding to nothing due to his consistency finishing second and maybe it was time to move on. But he has continued to show just how good a manager he is by keeping the Dons up at the top end and getting to finals to challenge for trophies.
However, it looks a far harder task for him next season. If he doesn't finish second, or win a pot, it will be looked upon as another disappointment. Derek is not daft; he will know that himself.
There can be no doubting his ability though as a manager, and along with the superb and equally consistent Tommy Wright at St Johnstone, they will surely have admiring eyes glancing northwards, from down the road.
Sunderland have already been linked in the press to Derek and the job of restoring that club back to the English Premier League looks a massive one. He might fancy it, and, it could be the best offer he gets because, although he has done a phenomenal job at the Dons, when was the last time a Scottish manager domestically went directly to the English top flight?
It just doesn't happen today, and much of that is due to how Scottish football, in general, is viewed down south.
Timing in football is everything, for players, but even more so for managers. Who can forget Billy Reid knocking back Swansea? Certainly not him I bet.
When your stock his high you have to take advantage. Derek McInnes’s is at an all-time high and I don’t believe it can get any higher while he remains at Aberdeen.
So perhaps he should cash in the chips he has accrued. Because, as the old saying goes in management, you are only three games from a crisis.
Congratulations, meanwhile, to Hamilton Accies on maintaining their Premiership status this weekend. But also to the board at Hamilton for sticking by Martin Canning throughout the season when two or three times amid some horrible runs of form he looked like a dead man walking. That faith has certainly paid off. The Accies continue to punch well above their weight.
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