James Forrest
The Emperor of Ice Cream
So, having already covered Wilfried Nancy today, I want to talk a little about Derek McInnes. I know I’ll take some stick for this — he has a wee fan club out there — and they’ll be quick to give me grief because I said he would be flummoxed if we sprung a tactical surprise on him. Apparently not. Nevertheless, I am undeterred, because when it comes to McInnes overall talents, I’m not wrong. I’ve never been wrong on McInnes.
McInnes says he wasn’t surprised by our system because he studied Nancy at Colorado Rapids and knew how the team would be set up. Whether that’s true or not is beside the point. I didn’t underestimate McInnes; he remains every bit as limited as I have said. What I did overestimate was the ability of certain players in our own team to rise to the occasion — and there’ll be a bigger article on them later.
What McInnes knew was simple enough: play five at the back against one of the weakest Celtic forward lines in history, and you give yourself a chance. He would have done that regardless of who stood in the Celtic dugout. He was never coming to Celtic Park to play expansive football with what he sees as a title race hanging in the balance.
Indeed, I said as much in the piece I published before the game. The change in our dugout and the shift in Hearts’ circumstances dictated exactly how McInnes approached the match — damage limitation first, then a hope of catching us on the break. Nothing about that approach shows inspiration. It’s pure pragmatism.
However, the real issue remains simple: we didn’t possess the quality to open that defence — and every one of us knew the risk before a ball was kicked. We’ve watched this story repeat itself all season long. Nancy changed the system to try something different, and I applaud him for it because this team needed something different. But without the right personnel, anyone in charge of this squad ends up pissing into the wind.
That said, McInnes now gets to play the swaggering conqueror, and nobody should fall for it — least of all Celtic fans. Nancy learned a great deal about who he can trust against a packed defence and who he can’t. Expect changes. God knows we need them. We’ll see what he does on Sunday.
Sunday. Not Thursday.
I expect nothing from the Roma game, and Nancy bears no responsibility for whatever happens there. Right now we lack the resources to tackle a challenge of that scale — everyone knows it. Blaming him for defeat would be absurd. All focus belongs on Hampden.
But McInnes remains the main point here.
The people who most need to see through his shtick are Hearts supporters themselves — though I honestly don’t care whether they do or not. Their fans will learn the same lesson Aberdeen fans learned, at considerable cost, over many years. Time and again, McInnes flatters to deceive. He picks up the occasional eye-catching result like yesterdays, yet real success almost always eludes him. Had Maeda taken his early chance, McInnes would have been crying into his notebook before halftime.
The old saying goes that it’s better to be lucky than good. That maxim has served McInnes well — but only up to a point. Trophies never quite follow.
From the outset, I’ve said Hearts’ so-called title challenge is an illusion. Their form has already fallen off a cliff — they’re a busted flush. Their peak came at Tynecastle when they beat us 3–1. Since then, they’ve merely treaded water, and yesterday’s result doesn’t change that reality one bit.
This remains our title to lose. If we win our game in hand and draw level on points, this becomes a matter of grinding Hearts down across the coming weeks and months — and we will, provided we get January right. That is the crucial factor above all others.
Meanwhile, McInnes is enjoying himself today because he won. Winning makes everyone look like a genius. Winning paints the illusion of having the magic formula. But league titles aren’t won in single afternoons — they’re secured over seasons. And my confidence remains rooted in this simple truth: McInnes is not the kind of manager who can deliver consistent results over a campaign. History proves it. He never has.
There’s something else worth noting. The wider football world seems to agree. McInnes has had a long managerial career — nearly two decades — almost entirely confined to Scotland. If he truly possessed the genius he is sometimes credited with, why has no chairman but one south of the border felt the urge to come calling? His 26 percent win ratio at Bristol City might explain that oversight.
Across his career, he has managed four SPFL clubs — St Johnstone, Aberdeen, Kilmarnock, and now Hearts. That is the McInnes level. It’s his comfort zone. He is a thoroughly bog-standard SPFL manager.
I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again: Callum Davidson won more major honours in a single season at St Johnstone than McInnes has managed in his entire career. McInnes has coached two of the largest clubs outside Glasgow, yet owns the same number of major domestic honours as Tommy Wright, John Hughes, Alan Stubbs, and Jimmy Thelin. All those men lifted the Scottish Cup during McInnes’ managerial era. He never has.
His lone League Cup win came with Aberdeen against Inverness — on penalties. In terms of major silverware, that leaves him level with Jim McIntyre.
Not exactly the record of a serial winner.
Sometimes football really does come down to fine margins — and fine margins decided yesterday’s contest. We should have beaten Hearts.
If Maeda finishes that early chance, the entire equation shifts. Suddenly, McInnes’ five-at-the-back setup collapses because Hearts have to chase the match. But at 0–0, we stayed vulnerable — and we’re vulnerable because this Celtic squad lacks the attacking firepower to kill games off.
You don’t need a managerial savant to expose that. Stephen Pressley did it earlier in the season when he restricted us to a single goal at home on Wednesday night. Nobody pretends he’s something special.
So McInnes will enjoy his day in the sun today. His media mates can celebrate with him — this is their wee moment too, after all. But on Sunday, when the season’s first domestic trophy gets played for, McInnes won’t be there. At Hampden for the Scottish Cup final, I’d wager he won’t be there either. And he certainly won’t be anywhere near the ground when the league title is decided — unless it’s decided against him.
That has always been the only true measure of success in football. And it is precisely where Derek McInnes consistently falls short.
I don’t withdraw a single word I’ve written about him — neither now nor across the years, all the way back to his Aberdeen days. Derek McInnes remains one of Scottish football’s great myths — and one of its most persistent underachievers.
The post Derek McInnes is colossally overhyped. Nothing about yesterday changes that. appeared first on The Celtic Blog.
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McInnes says he wasn’t surprised by our system because he studied Nancy at Colorado Rapids and knew how the team would be set up. Whether that’s true or not is beside the point. I didn’t underestimate McInnes; he remains every bit as limited as I have said. What I did overestimate was the ability of certain players in our own team to rise to the occasion — and there’ll be a bigger article on them later.
What McInnes knew was simple enough: play five at the back against one of the weakest Celtic forward lines in history, and you give yourself a chance. He would have done that regardless of who stood in the Celtic dugout. He was never coming to Celtic Park to play expansive football with what he sees as a title race hanging in the balance.
Indeed, I said as much in the piece I published before the game. The change in our dugout and the shift in Hearts’ circumstances dictated exactly how McInnes approached the match — damage limitation first, then a hope of catching us on the break. Nothing about that approach shows inspiration. It’s pure pragmatism.
However, the real issue remains simple: we didn’t possess the quality to open that defence — and every one of us knew the risk before a ball was kicked. We’ve watched this story repeat itself all season long. Nancy changed the system to try something different, and I applaud him for it because this team needed something different. But without the right personnel, anyone in charge of this squad ends up pissing into the wind.
That said, McInnes now gets to play the swaggering conqueror, and nobody should fall for it — least of all Celtic fans. Nancy learned a great deal about who he can trust against a packed defence and who he can’t. Expect changes. God knows we need them. We’ll see what he does on Sunday.
Sunday. Not Thursday.
I expect nothing from the Roma game, and Nancy bears no responsibility for whatever happens there. Right now we lack the resources to tackle a challenge of that scale — everyone knows it. Blaming him for defeat would be absurd. All focus belongs on Hampden.
But McInnes remains the main point here.
The people who most need to see through his shtick are Hearts supporters themselves — though I honestly don’t care whether they do or not. Their fans will learn the same lesson Aberdeen fans learned, at considerable cost, over many years. Time and again, McInnes flatters to deceive. He picks up the occasional eye-catching result like yesterdays, yet real success almost always eludes him. Had Maeda taken his early chance, McInnes would have been crying into his notebook before halftime.
The old saying goes that it’s better to be lucky than good. That maxim has served McInnes well — but only up to a point. Trophies never quite follow.
From the outset, I’ve said Hearts’ so-called title challenge is an illusion. Their form has already fallen off a cliff — they’re a busted flush. Their peak came at Tynecastle when they beat us 3–1. Since then, they’ve merely treaded water, and yesterday’s result doesn’t change that reality one bit.
This remains our title to lose. If we win our game in hand and draw level on points, this becomes a matter of grinding Hearts down across the coming weeks and months — and we will, provided we get January right. That is the crucial factor above all others.
Meanwhile, McInnes is enjoying himself today because he won. Winning makes everyone look like a genius. Winning paints the illusion of having the magic formula. But league titles aren’t won in single afternoons — they’re secured over seasons. And my confidence remains rooted in this simple truth: McInnes is not the kind of manager who can deliver consistent results over a campaign. History proves it. He never has.
There’s something else worth noting. The wider football world seems to agree. McInnes has had a long managerial career — nearly two decades — almost entirely confined to Scotland. If he truly possessed the genius he is sometimes credited with, why has no chairman but one south of the border felt the urge to come calling? His 26 percent win ratio at Bristol City might explain that oversight.
Across his career, he has managed four SPFL clubs — St Johnstone, Aberdeen, Kilmarnock, and now Hearts. That is the McInnes level. It’s his comfort zone. He is a thoroughly bog-standard SPFL manager.
I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again: Callum Davidson won more major honours in a single season at St Johnstone than McInnes has managed in his entire career. McInnes has coached two of the largest clubs outside Glasgow, yet owns the same number of major domestic honours as Tommy Wright, John Hughes, Alan Stubbs, and Jimmy Thelin. All those men lifted the Scottish Cup during McInnes’ managerial era. He never has.
His lone League Cup win came with Aberdeen against Inverness — on penalties. In terms of major silverware, that leaves him level with Jim McIntyre.
Not exactly the record of a serial winner.
Sometimes football really does come down to fine margins — and fine margins decided yesterday’s contest. We should have beaten Hearts.
If Maeda finishes that early chance, the entire equation shifts. Suddenly, McInnes’ five-at-the-back setup collapses because Hearts have to chase the match. But at 0–0, we stayed vulnerable — and we’re vulnerable because this Celtic squad lacks the attacking firepower to kill games off.
You don’t need a managerial savant to expose that. Stephen Pressley did it earlier in the season when he restricted us to a single goal at home on Wednesday night. Nobody pretends he’s something special.
So McInnes will enjoy his day in the sun today. His media mates can celebrate with him — this is their wee moment too, after all. But on Sunday, when the season’s first domestic trophy gets played for, McInnes won’t be there. At Hampden for the Scottish Cup final, I’d wager he won’t be there either. And he certainly won’t be anywhere near the ground when the league title is decided — unless it’s decided against him.
That has always been the only true measure of success in football. And it is precisely where Derek McInnes consistently falls short.
I don’t withdraw a single word I’ve written about him — neither now nor across the years, all the way back to his Aberdeen days. Derek McInnes remains one of Scottish football’s great myths — and one of its most persistent underachievers.
The post Derek McInnes is colossally overhyped. Nothing about yesterday changes that. appeared first on The Celtic Blog.
Continue reading...
