Derek McInnes: Pressure of Kilmarnock relegation scrap nothing I can’t handle

The former St Johnstone, Bristol City and Aberdeen boss knows what his remit is in Ayrshire.
Kilmarnock are back in the Premiership with Derek McInnes as manager. (Photo by Craig Foy / SNS Group)Kilmarnock are back in the Premiership with Derek McInnes as manager. (Photo by Craig Foy / SNS Group)
Kilmarnock are back in the Premiership with Derek McInnes as manager. (Photo by Craig Foy / SNS Group)

Derek McInnes has been involved in management long enough to know the pressure never changes - and the Kilmarnock boss reckons he is prepared to handle any challenge thrown his way as the aims to maintain the Ayrshire club’s top-flight status.

Killie, who were promoted back to the Premiership last season at the first time of asking, currently find themselves in a four-way relegation fight with Ross County, Dundee United and Motherwell at the foot of the table with a third of the campaign still to go.

Hide Ad
Hide Ad

Paisley-born McInnes has had to deliver results at both ends of the scale during his career to date, dealing with different types of scenarios and navigating his way through successfully.

Kilmarnock manager Derek McInnes shows his frustration on the touchline during the 2-0 defeat at Celtic Park. (Photo by Craig Williamson / SNS Group)Kilmarnock manager Derek McInnes shows his frustration on the touchline during the 2-0 defeat at Celtic Park. (Photo by Craig Williamson / SNS Group)
Kilmarnock manager Derek McInnes shows his frustration on the touchline during the 2-0 defeat at Celtic Park. (Photo by Craig Williamson / SNS Group)

The 51-year-old earned promotion from the First Division in his first managerial gig with St Johnstone and helped the Perth club establish themselves in the Premiership before saving Bristol City from relegation and then returning to Scotland to guide Aberdeen to cup finals SEVEN consecutive European campaigns.

Asked if battling the drop brought more pressure and stress than reaching cup finals, McInnes stated: “I don’t know. It’s probably equal, to be honest. Everyone needs to make the particular demands of wherever they happen to be working, whatever that might be. “Right now, at Kilmarnock, I feel a certain responsibility because I’ve been here for over a year and I realise how important the football club is to so many people.

“Right from the start there was pressure to take St Johnstone back into the top flight, which we managed to do at the first attempt. Then there was pressure to get into the top six, which we achieved by the time we left for Bristol.

Hide Ad
Hide Ad

“The only other time I’ve been involved in a relegation battle was when I took the job at Bristol in October, 2011. We were ten points behind the second-bottom club in the Championship and we hadn’t won a home game since March.

“Even then, we won the battle and ended up surviving by seven or eight points but it was stressful and demanding. However, we managed to galvanise the squad and improve them, winning enough games to steer clear of relegation.

Derek McInnes celebrates during his time at Bristol CityDerek McInnes celebrates during his time at Bristol City
Derek McInnes celebrates during his time at Bristol City

“Then, taking the Aberdeen job, there were the obvious demands there to make a better fist of it than our predecessors, which we also did. Every manager is under different levels of pressure, demanding on the size of their club and the remit they’re working under.”

McInnes is fully aware of the task in hand as he attempts to keep the Rugby Park outfit in the division - just over 12 months since returning to management after a spell out of the game following his dismissal at Aberdeen.

Hide Ad
Hide Ad

Since arriving at Kilmarnock, the former midfield player achieved his first objective of of getting the club back out of the Championship with half the season already gone and a deficit to make at the summit. His next priority is to ensure some stability going forward and give the club a platform to build on next term.

McInnes admitted: “I didn’t expect that there wouldn’t be pressure. There was pressure from the minute we walked through the door, pressure to find the winning formula which would take the team out of the Championship. That was a different kind of pressure on the players because, for the first time in a long time, they were expected to win every game they played.

“As for this season, there was a recognition and an understanding - certainly as far as I was concerned - that coming up with the squad we had were going to be challenges. We’d had a really stressful couple of months just trying to put a squad together because we didn’t have a recruitment team in place so we had to fill the squad with a lot of loan players, which wasn’t ideal.

“Slowly but surely, though, things have improved. I do believe that we’re learning and getting better but I still feel we need more improvements individually and as a team for us to be certain of our work. However, the challenge has always been to make sure that we stay in this division.

Hide Ad
Hide Ad

“If we can find an unbeaten run, find some consistency and back up performance after performance then you never know. When you saw the scenes after we beat Arbroath to clinch the title and automatic promotion last May you could tell how much everyone in the ground had missed being in the Premiership, even though they’d only been out of it for a year.

“They’d been flirting with relegation for a few years before it actually happened and it culminated with them dropping into the Championship, bringing a sudden realisation for many people that that wasn’t where they wanted to be, that Killie were bigger and better than that.

“Nine months after winning promotion, I feel that responsibility even more than I did then. Right now, after doing so well last year, we need to stay up.”

Comment Guidelines

National World encourages reader discussion on our stories. User feedback, insights and back-and-forth exchanges add a rich layer of context to reporting. Please review our Community Guidelines before commenting.