Derek McInnes defends Aberdeen record with 'Holy Grail' claim as chairman braces for fans Q&A

It isn’t hard to feel sympathy for Derek McInnes, who must wonder what chance he has when circumstances seem to conspire against him to the current extent.

Aberdeen manager Derek McInnes after last weekend's 2-0 defeat to Hibs - his side's fifth game without a goal (Photo by Ross Parker / SNS Group)

No sooner had he finished reeling off a succession of latest setbacks – Florian Kamberi’s work permit still not processed, Fraser Hornby succumbing to illness, Greg Leigh likely to be out for the rest of the season – than information filtered through that chairman Dave Cormack had organised a chairman’s questions session with supporters, “live and unedited”, for this Tuesday. “No question will be off limits,” the news release added.

Just what McInnes needs. He’s already fighting fires to a degree that’s been unlike anything he’s known in his near eight-year spell at the club. Defeat to St Mirren tomorrow does not bear thinking about – especially now his relatively new chairman has put himself up for an interrogation from fans, some of whom have already expressed their dissatisfaction with the current state of affairs via such channels as social media and an old-fashioned banner protest outside Pittodrie.

With no supporters inside the stadium, McInnes has been spared the howls and jeers after results such as last Saturday’s 2-0 defeat to Hibs. It’s the fifth game in a row where Aberdeen have failed to score. They have been usurped in third place by Hibs when, not so long ago, sights were set on dislodging Celtic from second.

Aberdeen chairman Dave Cormack publicly backed under-fire manager Derek McInnes following the 2-0 defeat at Hibs (Photo by Mark Scates / SNS Group)

News such as a hold-up with Kamberi’s papers and an illness picked up by fellow loan-signing Hornby, who has missed training this week with a bug, is not what the supporters wish to hear. It’s not what McInnes wants to be telling them.

On top of all this, was the dreaded vote of confidence from Cormack following discussions between the chairman and manager last Sunday. “It’s critical that we all get behind Derek,” was the gist of the statement that emerged after a subsequent board meeting. Which is fine. But McInnes is entitled to feel miffed he was left wheeling and dealing in an attempt to recruit strikers on the last day of the transfer window.

“There are a lot of things I’m not particularly pleased about,” he admitted yesterday as he relayed news of further delays with Kamberi’s paperwork – while he is at least now in Scotland, the former Hibs striker cannot even train.

“We could have maybe done some of the work earlier in the window this time around, but we had to wait on Sam Cosgrove’s money coming in before we could make some headway in making signings.”

Nevertheless, the manager has come out swinging. Support is nice – he’s had messages from fans, in the form of letters that are not available for public consumption in the way normally more acerbic posts on Twitter or on forums are, for example. But he’s not been unduly distressed by the more vehement criticism coming his way.

“I think you get anaesthetised to it as a manager,” he said. “I think you are grateful for any support when you are going through tough times. I think we all feel that as individuals. I’m not a needy person but I’ve been really pleased with the amount of support I’ve had externally with people, supporters getting in touch. The amount of emails, letters and messages of support, I’m grateful for any support in tough times.”

He has, though, appealed for some perspective. Aberdeen’s perceived current struggles would have been – and were – hailed as a success in his early years in charge at Pittodrie, when third place was something of a pipe dream. There were successive ninth-place finishes in the three full seasons prior to him taking over in March 2013. They finished third in his first full season in charge. It could be argued he is a victim of his own success.

“What we need to remind the players is that finishing third for other clubs is like the Holy Grail,” he said. “But finishing third sometimes does not feel like that anymore for Aberdeen. But it’s something that the players and I have to work towards.

“It’s still the same achievement as it was in my first year,” he added. “Qualifying for Europe is still the same feeling of achievement. There are other clubs who would love to have been us over the last wee while and there are other clubs who would love to finish third this season. It should be the same for us.

“I don’t buy this that our budget is way above other clubs,” he added. “We’ve got a competitive budget and we’re pleased with it but it doesn’t take us away from other clubs. We have to do a lot of good work to finish third every season. We have to do a lot of good work as a club to qualify for Europe.

“To do it for eight years in a row in the top places and get European football, if it was easy everybody would be doing it. It’s not easy and it has been a real challenge this season.”

Although Aberdeen were leapfrogged by Hibs following last weekend’s result at Easter Road, McInnes is confident his side can reclaim third place in what’s left of the campaign. They are five points behind Jack Ross’ side with a game in hand.

“Third is still in our grasp,” he said. “Normally post-split sorts a lot of it out anyway. A lot of the time you are touch tight with teams around you going into that spell and those last run of games are normally where things are decided.

“We have got Livingston to play, Hibs to play again and Celtic plenty of times. There are key games to come.”

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