Derek McInnes

[Stavrum]

Reflecting on the season, i think its been very mixed for McInnes.

Undoubtedly the league position is a good result. In a year that had Celtic, Rangers, Hearts and Hibs all in the top league; he delivered second again, over 70 points again and closer to Celtic in terms of the points gap.

In a season many thought we would struggle due to the loss of Hayes, McGinn and Jack (some more than others) i think the consistency in the league has been remarkable. The restructuring of the team last summer was a mixed bag, but working within the budget we are limited to, you are always going to have to take some punts and hope for the best.

2 things have let him done this season, the results against Rangers and Celtic in the league, and the performance in the cup games against Motherwell.

Looking at the Rangers and Celtic games, he has to be more bold, especially against a poor Rangers team. The League Cup was a disappointment, he got that game horribly wrong. I think in the Cup Semi, we started well, and if it was not for defence howlers, that game could of ended differently. We will never know i guess, but i think the players need to take more responsibility for that one.

I would say a season of missed opportunities, should of had at least another cup final this year, and perhaps gone a little further in europe. However, against the non Glasgow top 6 teams, the record is excellent; we only lost to hearts and hibs once, and never lost to Killie.

For the season, its 6.5/10 from me. Work to be done in the summer to reshape the squad and prove he can keep improving us. The form over the last 2 months has been encouraging going into the summer break. I would say though, another similar season of stagnation, and i would be joining the brigade looking for a change.

[Red Zone]

Reflecting on the season, i think its been very mixed for McInnes.

Undoubtedly the league position is a good result. In a year that had Celtic, Rangers, Hearts and Hibs all in the top league; he delivered second again, over 70 points again and closer to Celtic in terms of the points gap.

In a season many thought we would struggle due to the loss of Hayes, McGinn and Jack (some more than others) i think the consistency in the league has been remarkable. The restructuring of the team last summer was a mixed bag, but working within the budget we are limited to, you are always going to have to take some punts and hope for the best.

2 things have let him done this season, the results against Rangers and Celtic in the league, and the performance in the cup games against Motherwell.

Looking at the Rangers and Celtic games, he has to be more bold, especially against a poor Rangers team. The League Cup was a disappointment, he got that game horribly wrong. I think in the Cup Semi, we started well, and if it was not for defence howlers, that game could of ended differently. We will never know i guess, but i think the players need to take more responsibility for that one.

I would say a season of missed opportunities, should of had at least another cup final this year, and perhaps gone a little further in europe. However, against the non Glasgow top 6 teams, the record is excellent; we only lost to hearts and hibs once, and never lost to Killie.

For the season, its 6.5/10 from me. Work to be done in the summer to reshape the squad and prove he can keep improving us. The form over the last 2 months has been encouraging going into the summer break. I would say though, another similar season of stagnation, and i would be joining the brigade looking for a change.

A pretty good summary I would say. I would only add the following

In many ways we over performed in getting to 73 points as I do think the signings were by and large disappointing and came nowhere close to replacing Hayes, McGinn and Jack, but credit where credit is due, despite the squad limitations we are very good at grinding out wins.

The cups were the major disappointment to me as whilst there is some satisfaction in finishing second, ultimately we need to be winning more trophies and both defeats to Motherwell were miserable. Having said that would we beat Celtic in a cup final - not sure we would.

We have also not been as good to watch this year, resorting to long ball tactics much more than prior seasons, playing to the squad limitations sadly.

Kenny McLean will clearly be a tough one to replace, but not convinced we will miss most of the others that are leaving so funnily enough I am actually quite confident that we could end up with a stronger team and squad next season, hopefully one that McInnes trusts more to take on Celtic and sevco head to head

[Landvetter83]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=74Grn5m0AAk

Derek gets in his own GIRFUY's here!

[Pacman1903]

Would it be too much to say that this win today could maybe be the game that gives DM the confidence in himself to start being more positive in the so called bigger games next season.

Its a shame its the end of the season

[87kilos]

Ohhhhhhhhh derek mcinnes

[ragnarok]

I can see both sides of the argument with regards to McInnes but it would be viewed as objectively crazy to get rid of him as manager after another 2nd place finish. I share the frustration at bottling the big games but I think you have to give credit where credit is due for the team's league performance, especially in the last two seasons when Mason's "we did well in a league without the Huns, Hearts and Hibs" argument doesn't hold water.

To put things into some perspective, the huns finished the season with 73 and 72 points respectively in 05/06 and 06/07 in the same league format. Neither of those were vintage hun teams by any stretch of the imagination but the reality is that those teams were assembled on a far higher budget than what is available to our current management team. The h*ns have spent a comparative fortune this season and those past seasons would suggest that we could easily spend three or four times our current budget poorly and not see any significant increase in performance. Even Hearts only managed 74 points in 05/06 and they were paying big wages for guys like Skacel, Jankauskas and Fyssas and already had a solid spine with guys like Gordon, Webster, Priscilla and Hartley.

I understand. Calls for realism fall flat after a gutless performance against a poor hun team, capitulation to the tims or another cup disappointment. I'm not suggesting that McInnes shouldn't take the flak he has received for those results. But some perspective is also required. We have a decent wage budget so can attract players who are better than the average player in our league but we are still rummaging around the bargain bins. Folk also need to bear this in mind when talking about the Christie loan. I agree that in an ideal world we wouldn't loan a player from Celtic but those are the financial limitations we operate in. You can object to Christie signing on loan from Celtic on a matter of principle, that's fine, but I fail to see how it was anything other than a net positive from a footballing perspective.

[Pacman1903]

Ohhhhhhhhh derek mcinnes

Enjoy Hampden next week. Oh wait a minute.......I mean the royal wedding

[87kilos]

Enjoy Hampden next week. Oh wait a minute.......I mean the royal wedding

OHHHHHHHHH Meghan Markle

[RED_JOHN]

OHHHHHHHHH Meghan Markle

I imagine you to be in the mould of Kenneth Williams (In fairness the above comment did make me laugh)

[pieandbovrilman]

Mixed bag this season for me, the cup exits were unacceptable and we should be looking forward to the final on Saturday. League form was consistent enough up to the split but not good enough against Rangers especially but then we know there were dark forces at work during the league double header against them and that obviously played a part. Since the split though we've been good, 11 points from 5 games against the best sides in the country and only one goal conceded is a good return. We've got a big monkey off our backs with the win at Celtic and closed the gap to single figures . I'd say a decent league campaign but overall marred by poor cup exits and some pretty shocking performances against both weegie clubs. Looking forward to the summer signings though and I am partial to a Euro qualifier on a Bonny night at Pittodrie.