Derek McInnes

[Don_Corleone]

This is a tough one, changing an approach with the youth teams take a long time to bear the fruits.
Its not a magic button to switch and suddenly improve the throughput.
That said, there's plenty of evidence that shows McInness is reluctant to put in "homegrown" youths on a regular basis and maybe needs to have more confidence that the lads can deliver.

The youngsters coming through aren’t good enough to help us achieve what we want to achieve - so he can throw them all in but we’ll end up bottom 6. Some of them just don’t fit his system or style of play - Bruce Anderson for example. Where could he play in McInnes standard system? Others like McLennan and Wright have had a fair bit of game time but neither have really been consistent enough. Campbell has had reasonable game time and always looks comfortable but I’m just not convinced he’s got enough edge and drive about him to become a permanent fixture

[Aldo1983]

Hats off to you, curvasud, for flying in the face of seemingly popular opinion. It's good to see someone going against the grain, otherwise the tedious repetition of those who hog the board makes it virtually unreadable for someone like myself.

Me, I feel no need to shout my opinions from the rooftops but I do find it refreshing that curvasud has bucked the latest trend, and rather than being abused from all quarters the lad/lass should be acknowledged, at the very least, for putting his opinion across in such a forthright manner. The poster, lone wolf though he may be, merits support from somewhere.

Extreme opinions hold no interest for me, and I would suggest, as usual, that the truth lies somewhere between what curvasud says and what his numerous detractors proclaim. But, y'know, who cares what I think? I certainly don't give a fiddler's f uck who does. There's decent arguments on both sides, but please keep up your end curvasud... if you don't I'll more than likely stop visiting this board because it's pretty unreadable (mcwinless/mchun/mcarse/mcwhatever.

Just as an aside, don't some of you get completely bored by typing that same old, same old, don't you fancy coming up with something a bit more valid, that your imagination can churn up rather than milne/hun/mcwinless/hun/****e/*******s? Is life really that bad? I'm happy to make an exception for moog, chiefly because he mounts a credible critique, but many of the rest of you (aldo, red john, even pac FFS, take a look at yourselves) are just mind numbingly boring, and I suspect you know it yourselves.

Pant pishers/happy clappers/top reds.... jesus christ, it's just like the playground when the so-called top dogs create derogatory names for those who hold different opinions to their own. It's pathetic. Moreover, I'd say that because he does go to loads of games and many of you others revel in the fact that you don't, quite justifiably gives him a massive headstart on you, yet even then he gets slammed as a 'top red' or whatever. The board is as tedious as the team this season. Yawn.

Is that so?

[curvasud]

He will be sacked by Cormack if we miss out on Europa qualifiers altogether, it's clear. The football is sometimes boring but no one appreciates 3-0 wins and goals these days. There's never a feel good factor as a result, unlike when we used to sing that sheep are on fire song. Attendances are falling. We might make a fair loss at this rate. The risk of another 1000 odd drop in season ticket sales would be enormous and fans would be frothing, he'd be out the door. If we finish behind Motherwell questions would be asked and Cormack will be weighing up ticket sales and income.

[Pacman1903]

He will be sacked by Cormack if we miss out on Europa qualifiers altogether, it's clear. The football is sometimes boring but no one appreciates 3-0 wins and goals these days. There's never a feel good factor as a result, unlike when we used to sing that sheep are on fire song. Attendances are falling. We might make a fair loss at this rate. The risk of another 1000 odd drop in season ticket sales would be enormous and fans would be frothing, he'd be out the door. If we finish behind Motherwell questions would be asked and Cormack will be weighing up ticket sales and income.

Nobody doesn't appreciate a 3-0 win. Thats bonkers. Thw problem is they are not common enough. Good football is far out weighed by sh@te

When the "sheep were on fire" we were exiting and we had potential. We are not now. Bland and hoofy. That lies at the managers door for tactics and recruitmemt but that leads to your next bit......

1000 is a huge dent in our sales. Its quite damning of the product in fact

The fans are already voting with their feet. I know less season ticket holder this season than i ever have. Theres no way this is going unnoticed. Questions will be being asked already i reckon. We have a shed to pay for and fitba is a buisness afterall. More so in the modern day fitba too.

I dont think McInnes is as safe as some believe. Hes bossed by a new guy. A guy with ambition who has a point to prove to Yanks. Yanks dont do bland

[Don_Corleone]

He will be sacked by Cormack if we miss out on Europa qualifiers altogether, it's clear. The football is sometimes boring but no one appreciates 3-0 wins and goals these days. There's never a feel good factor as a result, unlike when we used to sing that sheep are on fire song. Attendances are falling. We might make a fair loss at this rate. The risk of another 1000 odd drop in season ticket sales would be enormous and fans would be frothing, he'd be out the door. If we finish behind Motherwell questions would be asked and Cormack will be weighing up ticket sales and income.

If we finish anywhere other than 3rd I think he needs to be punted. He's got a fair bit of credit in the bank due to the run of seasons where we finished 2nd and the cup finals etc. But that credit is running down rapidly and a 4th place finish isn't good enough, certainly not 2 years in a row.

I would imagine the Americans will be looking ahead to the next 5 - 10 years and will have ambitions and plans which will involve year on year improvement, which is what you would expect. They'll be trying to ascertain whether McInnes is capable of delivering, and I'd assume they'll take into account his recruitment, results and style of play and the attendances etc. If he mucks up the January transfer window as badly as he mucked up the summer one, and if we finish below 3rd, don't have a good cup run and attendances continue to drop, I think he might be shifted. If he secures 3rd and we reach at least the semi of the cup they might give him another season. Either way I would imagine they'll be thinking about who the next manager should be already - not so much a specific name, but the credentials and type of guy they will want to take things forward.

[afc1903mad]

If we finish anywhere other than 3rd I think he needs to be punted. He's got a fair bit of credit in the bank due to the run of seasons where we finished 2nd and the cup finals etc. But that credit is running down rapidly and a 4th place finish isn't good enough, certainly not 2 years in a row.

I would imagine the Americans will be looking ahead to the next 5 - 10 years and will have ambitions and plans which will involve year on year improvement, which is what you would expect. They'll be trying to ascertain whether McInnes is capable of delivering, and I'd assume they'll take into account his recruitment, results and style of play and the attendances etc. If he mucks up the January transfer window as badly as he mucked up the summer one, and if we finish below 3rd, don't have a good cup run and attendances continue to drop, I think he might be shifted. If he secures 3rd and we reach at least the semi of the cup they might give him another season. Either way I would imagine they'll be thinking about who the next manager should be already - not so much a specific name, but the credentials and type of guy they will want to take things forward.

All good points, but as a business, year on year improvements include off field activities, which I recall seeing that has happened under DM's term.

It is clear that we have reached a plateau and in order to break through that glass ceiling on the football pitch, something has to change.
That could be the manager, it could be our training opportunities, it could be the playing budget or a few other things

Summertime could be a pivotal period and where we see what the new board decides.

[Red Zone]

All good points, but as a business, year on year improvements include off field activities, which I recall seeing that has happened under DM's term.

It is clear that we have reached a plateau and in order to break through that glass ceiling on the football pitch, something has to change.
That could be the manager, it could be our training opportunities, it could be the playing budget or a few other things

Summertime could be a pivotal period and where we see what the new board decides.

I was a long time supporter of McInnes, as is well documented on here, but have gradually moved to the other side of the fence. You are absolutely right to say that we made year on year improvements under McInnes, from to be fair a pretty low starting point and as most would probably agree reached a peak in the season we lost the Scottish Cup final to celtic 2-1.

I think though for you to say we have reached a plateau is being overly kind towards McInnes as that implies we have maintained a consistent level of performance since that peak, which is clearly not the case. There is little doubt that last season our performance levels, results and entertainment value started to decline and that trend has continued this season. If that was due to our direct competitors burning up the league and us suffering as a result you could sort of understand but the reality is that outside celtic and sevco the rest of the teams in the league are collectively as poor as I can remember.

There is little doubt that this regression is 100% due to a combination of poor recruitment, negative team selections and overly defensive mindset all of which I am sad to say can only be laid at the door of the manager.

Is it a foregone conclusion that Cormack will sack McInnes? - no I don't think it is. However I have consistently said that what will cost him his job ultimately is declining crowds. Clearly that trend is well underway and will only be stopped and turned around if people are attracted to go back on the back of more attractive attacking football (like we played in the first half of his reign) or better signings. Do I think that will happen? No, likely not as McInnes is nothing if not stubborn.

I suspect that he will be sacked within the next twelve months. It will either happen in the Summer if we don't qualify for Europe, which I don't think is likely as fourth will almost certainly be good enough again, and we should be at least fourth given the head start we have, or early next season as we could be really toiling in the league if Hibs continue to improve under Ross and Stendel works out at Hertz (neither of which are slam dunks).

So in reality McInnes probably has one or two transfer windows to save his job as the current Group of players are not capable of playing the attacking style of football that is required to get the missing fans back, even assuming McInnes let's off the handbrake.

[Aldo1983]

I was a long time supporter of McInnes, as is well documented on here, but have gradually moved to the other side of the fence. You are absolutely right to say that we made year on year improvements under McInnes, from to be fair a pretty low starting point and as most would probably agree reached a peak in the season we lost the Scottish Cup final to celtic 2-1.

I think though for you to say we have reached a plateau is being overly kind towards McInnes as that implies we have maintained a consistent level of performance since that peak, which is clearly not the case. There is little doubt that last season our performance levels, results and entertainment value started to decline and that trend has continued this season. If that was due to our direct competitors burning up the league and us suffering as a result you could sort of understand but the reality is that outside celtic and sevco the rest of the teams in the league are collectively as poor as I can remember.

There is little doubt that this regression is 100% due to a combination of poor recruitment, negative team selections and overly defensive mindset all of which I am sad to say can only be laid at the door of the manager.

Is it a foregone conclusion that Cormack will sack McInnes? - no I don't think it is. However I have consistently said that what will cost him his job ultimately is declining crowds. Clearly that trend is well underway and will only be stopped and turned around if people are attracted to go back on the back of more attractive attacking football (like we played in the first half of his reign) or better signings. Do I think that will happen? No, likely not as McInnes is nothing if not stubborn.

I suspect that he will be sacked within the next twelve months. It will either happen in the Summer if we don't qualify for Europe, which I don't think is likely as fourth will almost certainly be good enough again, and we should be at least fourth given the head start we have, or early next season as we could be really toiling in the league if Hibs continue to improve under Ross and Stendel works out at Hertz (neither of which are slam dunks).

So in reality McInnes probably has one or two transfer windows to save his job as the current Group of players are not capable of playing the attacking style of football that is required to get the missing fans back, even assuming McInnes let's off the handbrake.

I think most are coming round to the thinking that he's had it easy but it's getting harder and if hearts and Hibs do get their act together then it'll get even harder.

[afc1903mad]

^^^^^
Excellent post and well put across.

I would agree that the plateau I referred to is a little generous. We are a smidgen off absolute peak (table wise /points wise) which has a number of various influences affecting where we are.

I think we have become a little too predictable and risk being increasingly found out.

Centre midfield has to be our major concern at the moment and indeed the last few windows.
Ferguson is fantastic and our risk is how long we have him for.
We have struggled to find suitable companions alongside / around him.
I think Ojo will improve us when he is back, but not having more / better back-ups in the engine of the team is a factor.
I've said before that Jack the rat was largely an unappreciated asset. We miss McLeans vision and range of passing, Christie's creativity and Shinnies drive.
I don't know what influeve the Atlanta link-up will bring but if we can add a couple of decent centre midfielders in, it would help us immensely

[Red Zone]

^^^^^
Excellent post and well put across.

I would agree that the plateau I referred to is a little generous. We are a smidgen off absolute peak (table wise /points wise) which has a number of various influences affecting where we are.

I think we have become a little too predictable and risk being increasingly found out.

Centre midfield has to be our major concern at the moment and indeed the last few windows.
Ferguson is fantastic and our risk is how long we have him for.
We have struggled to find suitable companions alongside / around him.
I think Ojo will improve us when he is back, but not having more / better back-ups in the engine of the team is a factor.
I've said before that Jack the rat was largely an unappreciated asset. We miss McLeans vision and range of passing, Christie's creativity and Shinnies drive.
I don't know what influeve the Atlanta link-up will bring but if we can add a couple of decent centre midfielders in, it would help us immensely

We have a number of areas needing attention in the team including right back and winger but I think you are right to say that midfield should be the number one priority but for me specifically it needs to be a creative midfielder like a Christie as our team is sorely short of an ability to pick apart a stuffy defence.