T here is nothing new among the rigmarole and razzmatazz of a managerial appointment.
Stewart Milne, the Aberdeen chairman, has trod this path seven times since he became the club's major shareholder 16 years ago and knows all of the stock phrases: "We're desperate for success . . . I'm convinced that (insert name) will bring success to this club . . . we know that we have to rebuild our fan base by bringing success on the park."
Tried, but perhaps not trusted, words. The reason is simple: during Milne's reign "success" has not been delivered, attendances have slipped and the managers he has appointed have come and gone, many comforted with the kind of compensation that has done little to ease Aberdeen's financial situation.
Derek McInnes, the erstwhile manager of Bristol City and St Johnstone, was yesterday the latest appointment introduced by Milne, a likeable man who, if he is comfortable facing prying questions, hides it well. He disclosed that he had been impressed with the 41-year-old, who enjoyed a distinguished playing career with a number of clubs, including Morton, Rangers, West Bromwich Albion and Dundee United before taking charge at St Johnstone after Owen Coyle departed for Burnley.
Coyle offered a public reference and Milne assured the gathered media that he had spoken with those in charge at Ashton Gate, too, before the anointing of his latest manager. McInnes, he disclosed, was the only candidate interviewed by himself, vice chairman George Yule and chief executive Duncan Fraser. Craig Brown, the outgoing manager, now with a seat on the board as a football adviser, did not participate in those talks, while suggestions that Derek Adams, the Ross County manager, was initially the prime contender were not commented upon.
There was a lack of spark in the chairman's voice as the questions came. "We have to accept that over the years we have underachieved," Milne stated without fear of contradiction. "This is a club that should be comfortably in the top six every year. We have to see ourselves pushing for Europe every year and getting into semi-finals and cup finals. We want to be a team that's capable of occasionally winning a trophy."
Hardly the stuff of season-ticket promotion. Instead, an acceptance that, despite Yule's defiant pronouncement last summer that a top-six finish was not an ambitious enough target, it would, in the eyes of Milne, do.
The new manager will see things differently of course and, while he was making appropriate diplomatic noises about the future, eyebrows were raised with the news that he and assistant Tony Docherty would not take charge of Brown's team until after the Clydesdale Bank Premier League splits next month.
It may be deduced that Aberdeen wanted to allow the outgoing manager the opportunity to achieve a place in the upper half before departing, so leaving his last job in the dugout with a semblance of success. Or did McInnes opt to wait? After all, taking over someone else's side immediately and failing to secure a place in the two games remaining before the split would have blighted the start of the latest phase of his career?
Either way he, too, said all the right things as he was unveiled. "Aberdeen is still a big pull," McInnes said. "I used to say to my players 'play the game, not the name'. Aberdeen is respected as a club because of tradition and the support. We need to make sure when teams come up here they have a bit of fear and we make them realise they are up against a team with a bit of an edge. This is the only job I have applied for and it is challenge that excites me. It is up to me to make the team respected on the pitch."
Rousing rhetoric, for sure, but a six-figure salary will always attract candidates who believe they possess the talent and motivational skills to lift the team. It need not always be about money, though. Milne and his board have only to look to the Highlands, where Inverness Caledonian Thistle and Ross County are producing better performances and results on a minuscule budget to see what can be achieved with a more ambitious and expansive approach than that employed by Brown and assistant Archie Knox.
Milne conceded that point and accepted that a less cautious approach might have yielded greater reward this term. "There were three or four games which ended up as draws that we were more than capable of winning this season," he acknowledged. "Had we won them we would comfortably be in the top six now.
"Derek and Tony know the budget they will be working to here. Yes, it is probably the third or fourth best within the SPL and we have to get more value out there on the pitch than what we are currently getting."
McInnes is not quite in place, but the waiting and wondering is already under way.
Why are you making commenting on The Herald only available to subscribers?
It should have been a safe space for informed debate, somewhere for readers to discuss issues around the biggest stories of the day, but all too often the below the line comments on most websites have become bogged down by off-topic discussions and abuse.
heraldscotland.com is tackling this problem by allowing only subscribers to comment.
We are doing this to improve the experience for our loyal readers and we believe it will reduce the ability of trolls and troublemakers, who occasionally find their way onto our site, to abuse our journalists and readers. We also hope it will help the comments section fulfil its promise as a part of Scotland's conversation with itself.
We are lucky at The Herald. We are read by an informed, educated readership who can add their knowledge and insights to our stories.
That is invaluable.
We are making the subscriber-only change to support our valued readers, who tell us they don't want the site cluttered up with irrelevant comments, untruths and abuse.
In the past, the journalist’s job was to collect and distribute information to the audience. Technology means that readers can shape a discussion. We look forward to hearing from you on heraldscotland.com
Comments & Moderation
Readers’ comments: You are personally liable for the content of any comments you upload to this website, so please act responsibly. We do not pre-moderate or monitor readers’ comments appearing on our websites, but we do post-moderate in response to complaints we receive or otherwise when a potential problem comes to our attention. You can make a complaint by using the ‘report this post’ link . We may then apply our discretion under the user terms to amend or delete comments.
Post moderation is undertaken full-time 9am-6pm on weekdays, and on a part-time basis outwith those hours.
Read the rules hereComments are closed on this article