Derek John McInnes (born 5 July 1971) is a Scottish professional

football manager ''Football Manager'' (also known as ''Worldwide Soccer Manager'' in North America from 2004 to 2008) is a series of football management simulation video games developed by British developer Sports Interactive and published by Sega. The game bega ...

and former

player Player may refer to: Role or adjective * Player (game), a participant in a game or sport ** Gamer, a player in video and tabletop games ** Athlete, a player in sports ** Player character, a character in a video game or role playing game who ...

who is the manager of

Scottish Premiership The Scottish Premiership, known as the cinch Premiership for sponsorship reasons, is the top division of the Scottish Professional Football League (SPFL), the league competition for men's professional football clubs in Scotland. The Scottis ...

club Kilmarnock. He featured prominently for

Greenock Morton Greenock Morton Football Club is a Scottish professional football club, which plays in the Scottish Championship. The club was founded as Morton Football Club in 1874, making it one of the oldest senior Scottish clubs. Morton was renamed Green ...

, Rangers,

West Bromwich Albion West Bromwich Albion Football Club () is an English professional football club based in West Bromwich, West Midlands, England. They compete in the EFL Championship, the second tier of English football. The club was formed in 1878 and has pl ...

and

Dundee United Dundee United Football Club is a Scottish professional football club based in the city of Dundee. The club name is usually abbreviated to Dundee United. Formed in 1909, originally as Dundee Hibernian, the club changed to the present name in 1 ...

during his playing career. He won two caps for the

Scotland national football team The Scotland national football team gd, Sgioba Ball-coise Nàiseanta na h-Alba sco, Scotland National Fitbaa Team represents Scotland in men's international football and is controlled by the Scottish Football Association. It competes in the thr ...

while with West Brom. McInnes became manager of St Johnstone where he had been on the playing staff, in November 2007. He guided the club to promotion to the Scottish Premier League in 2009 and retained that status for two seasons. McInnes was appointed manager of Football League Championship club

Bristol City Bristol City Football Club is a professional football club based in Bristol, England, which compete in the , the second tier of English football. They have played their home games at Ashton Gate since moving from St John's Lane in 1904. The ...

in October 2011. Despite avoiding relegation in 2011–12, McInnes was sacked by Bristol City in January 2013 with the club bottom of the Championship. He was appointed

Aberdeen Aberdeen (; sco, Aiberdeen ; gd, Obar Dheathain ; la, Aberdonia) is a city in North East Scotland, and is the third most populous city in the country. Aberdeen is one of Scotland's 32 local government council areas (as Aberdeen City), and ...

manager in March 2013 and departed eight years later in March 2021, having won the

Scottish League Cup The Scottish League Cup (also known as the Viaplay Cup for sponsorship reasons) is a football competition open to all Scottish Professional Football League (SPFL) clubs. First held in 1946–47, it is the oldest national League Cup in existen ...

2014 File:2014 Events Collage.png, From top left, clockwise: Stocking up supplies and personal protective equipment (PPE) for the Western African Ebola virus epidemic; Citizens examining the ruins after the Chibok schoolgirls kidnapping; Bundles of wat ...

, finished

runners-up on four occasions and reached three other cup finals during his spell in charge. In January 2022 McInnes was appointed manager of Kilmarnock on an 18-month deal, succeeding previous manager Tommy Wright.

Playing career

Early career

McInnes began his professional career in 1988 as a teenager at

, where he played in 259 games in all competitions over nine seasons and credited the influence of assistant manager John McMaster, before moving to Rangers, where he spent almost five years as a squad player, taking part in 52 matches for the Ibrox club; his main achievement was winning the

Scottish Cup The Scottish Football Association Challenge Cup,1999 File:1999 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: The funeral procession of King Hussein of Jordan in Amman; the 1999 İzmit earthquake kills over 17,000 people in Turkey; the Columbine High School massacre, one of the first major school shoot ...

to clinch a domestic

domestic treble A treble in association football is achieved when a club team wins three trophies in a single season. A ''continental treble'' involves winning the club's national league competition, main national cup competition, and main continental trophy. A ...

. McInnes scored four goals for Rangers, with strikes against

FC Alania Vladikavkaz FC Spartak Vladikavkaz (russian: link=no, Футбольный клуб «Спартак Владикавказ») was a Russian football club based in Vladikavkaz (formerly Ordzhonikidze), North Ossetia–Alania. Founded in 1921, the club playe ...

in the Champions League and Hearts in the league. He also scored twice against

Ayr United Ayr United Football Club are a football club in Ayr, Scotland, who play in the Scottish Championship, the second tier of the Scottish Professional Football League. Formed in 1910 by the merger of Ayr Parkhouse and Ayr F.C., their nickname is ...

and Dunfermline in Rangers' run to the

1996 Scottish League Cup Final The 1996 Scottish League Cup Final was a association football, football match played at Celtic Park, Glasgow, on 24 November 1996. It was the final of the 51st Scottish League Cup competition. The final was contested by Rangers F.C., Rangers and ...

, but he did not feature in the final itself. During his time in

Glasgow Glasgow ( ; sco, Glesca or ; gd, Glaschu ) is the most populous city in Scotland and the fourth-most populous city in the United Kingdom, as well as being the 27th largest city by population in Europe. In 2020, it had an estimated popul ...

, McInnes had a loan spell at English club

Stockport County Stockport County Football Club are a professional football club in Stockport, England, who compete in EFL League Two, the fourth tier of the English football league system. Formed in 1883 as Heaton Norris Rovers, they were renamed Stockport Co ...

, where he made 13 league appearances. He was also briefly at French side

Toulouse Toulouse ( , ; oc, Tolosa ) is the prefecture of the French department of Haute-Garonne and of the larger region of Occitania. The city is on the banks of the River Garonne, from the Mediterranean Sea, from the Atlantic Ocean and from Pa ...

during a season in which the club was promoted from the

second division In sport, the Second Division, also called Division 2 or Division II is usually the second highest division of a league, and will often have promotion and relegation with divisions above and below. Following the rise of Premier League style compet ...

, although he only featured in three league matches.

West Bromwich Albion

McInnes joined

in the summer of 2000, but a

cruciate ligament Cruciate ligaments (also cruciform ligaments) are pairs of ligaments arranged like a letter X. They occur in several joints of the body, such as the knee joint and the atlanto-axial joint. In a fashion similar to the cords in a toy Jacob's la ...

injury ended his season in October. He returned the following season to captain West Brom to a place in the

Premier League The Premier League (legal name: The Football Association Premier League Limited) is the highest level of the men's English football league system. Contested by 20 clubs, it operates on a system of promotion and relegation with the English Fo ...

. He also won West Brom's Goal of the Season award at the end of the promotion campaign, for his 25-yard strike against

Sheffield United Sheffield United Football Club is a professional football club in Sheffield, South Yorkshire, England, which compete in the . They are nicknamed "the Blades" due to Sheffield's history of cutlery production. The team have played home games at ...

in the

Battle of Bramall Lane The "Battle of Bramall Lane" is a name used by the British press to refer to an English First Division football match played between Sheffield United and West Bromwich Albion at Bramall Lane, Sheffield on 16 March 2002. It is the only match i ...

. McInnes was the first West Brom player to be sent off in the Premier League. He was dismissed in the second half of the club's first Premier League match against Manchester United at Old Trafford in August 2002. He played in the majority of West Brom's Premier League games during the 2002–03 season but was unable to prevent them from being relegated. He made 88 league appearances and scored six times for the

West Midlands West or Occident is one of the four cardinal directions or points of the compass. It is the opposite direction from east and is the direction in which the Sun sets on the Earth. Etymology The word "west" is a Germanic word passed into some ...

club.

Dundee United

McInnes joined

on 11 July 2003, and was immediately installed as team captain by manager Ian McCall. In his first full season at Tannadice, McInnes missed only three league and one cup game. He helped the club to a fifth-place finish in the Scottish Premier League and scored twice—his first coming in the

Scottish Cup The Scottish Football Association Challenge Cup,Dunfermline and his second in a league match against Hearts. After an unsteady start to the 2004–05 season, McInnes began to take control again in the centre of midfield. He then picked up an injury with a third of the season remaining but managed to return to the first team for the

Scottish Cup final The Scottish Football Association Challenge Cup, commonly known as the Scottish Cup, is a knockout cup competition in Scottish football. Organised by the Scottish Football Association, it is the third oldest existing football competition in the w ...

at the end of the season. In April 2006, United manager

Craig Brewster Craig James Brown Brewster (born 13 December 1966) is a Scottish former professional footballer, turned coach. He made his name in a long playing career as a striker for numerous clubs in Scotland, particularly Forfar Athletic, Raith Rovers, ...

announced that McInnes was free to leave the club at the end of the season, despite having a year of his contract left to run. He made 83 appearances for Dundee United, with four goals scored.

Millwall

On 24 June 2006, it was announced that McInnes had finally come to an agreement to be released from his contract and he subsequently joined

Millwall Millwall is a district on the western and southern side of the Isle of Dogs, in east London, England, in the London Borough of Tower Hamlets. It lies to the immediate south of Canary Wharf and Limehouse, north of Greenwich and Deptford, eas ...

. The then-Lions boss

Nigel Spackman Nigel James Spackman (born 2 December 1960) is an English football manager, former professional footballer and sports television pundit. As a player he was as a midfielder from 1980 to 1998, notably for Liverpool, Chelsea and Rangers. He also ...

gave McInnes the captain's armband with the comment: "Every Millwall player on that pitch should be a Derek McInnes." McInnes scored once during his spell with Millwall, his goal coming in a 3–2 defeat to Cheltenham on 26 August 2006.

St Johnstone

McInnes left Millwall on a free transfer during the January 2007

transfer window A transfer window is the period during the year in which a football club can transfer players from other playing staff into their playing staff. Such a transfer is completed by registering the player into the new club through FIFA. "Transfer wi ...

, returning to Scotland to sign for St Johnstone late on New Year's Day. He made his debut for the

Perth Perth is the capital and largest city of the Australian state of Western Australia. It is the fourth most populous city in Australia and Oceania, with a population of 2.1 million (80% of the state) living in Greater Perth in 2020. Perth i ...

club on 6 January, against

in the Scottish Cup at

McDiarmid Park McDiarmid Park is a stadium in Perth, Scotland, used mainly for association football. It has been the home ground of Scottish Premiership side St Johnstone since its opening in 1989. The stadium has an all-seated capacity of . As well as St J ...

International

International recognition came late to McInnes as he made his

Scotland Scotland (, ) is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. Covering the northern third of the island of Great Britain, mainland Scotland has a Anglo-Scottish border, border with England to the southeast ...

debut on 21 August 2002, coming on as a substitute for the last ten minutes against

Denmark ) , song = ( en, "King Christian stood by the lofty mast") , song_type = National and royal anthem , image_map = EU-Denmark.svg , map_caption = , subdivision_type = Sovereign state , subdivision_name = Kingdom of Denmark , establish ...

in a friendly. Three months later, against

Portugal Portugal, officially the Portuguese Republic ( pt, República Portuguesa, links=yes ), is a country whose mainland is located on the Iberian Peninsula of Southwestern Europe, and whose territory also includes the Atlantic archipelagos of ...

, he was a substitute once again, coming on midway through the first half.

Managerial career

St Johnstone

McInnes was appointed manager of St Johnstone on 27 November 2007, after the previous management team of

Owen Coyle Owen Columba Coyle (born 14 July 1966) is a professional football manager and former player who is currently the manager of Scottish Championship club Queen's Park. He played as a striker for several clubs in England and Scotland, and made one ...

and Sandy Stewart had departed for

Burnley Burnley () is a town and the administrative centre of the wider Borough of Burnley in Lancashire, England, with a 2001 population of 73,021. It is north of Manchester and east of Preston, Lancashire, Preston, at the confluence of the River C ...

. On 2 May 2009, McInnes secured promotion to the Scottish Premier League for St Johnstone, ending their seven-year stint in the First Division. During the 2009–10 close season, McInnes was linked with the managerial positions at West Bromwich Albion and

Watford Watford () is a town and borough in Hertfordshire, England, 15 miles northwest of Central London, on the River Colne. Initially a small market town, the Grand Junction Canal encouraged the construction of paper-making mills, print works, and ...

. He remained at St Johnstone, however, and in October 2009 he signed a new contract with the

club. McInnes was granted permission by St Johnstone to be interviewed by

for their managerial position, alongside former Barnsley manager

Mark Robins Mark Gordon Robins (born 22 December 1969) is an English football manager and former player, who is the current manager of Coventry City in the EFL Championship. As a player, he was a striker and is best known for his time in the Premier Leagu ...

and another unnamed candidate, in October 2011. His managerial record with the Perth club was 177 games in charge, where he won 71 games, drew 53 games and lost 53 games.

Bristol City

McInnes was appointed manager of Bristol City on 19 October 2011. The club were adrift at the bottom of the Football League Championship, but McInnes guided City to an eight-game unbeaten run that secured their league status. On 6 November 2012, following City's 2–0 loss to

Birmingham City Birmingham City Football Club is a professional association football, football club based in Birmingham, England. Formed in 1875 as Small Heath Alliance, it was renamed Small Heath in 1888, Birmingham in 1905, and Birmingham City in 1943. Sin ...

, McInnes gave £300 to 17 stranded fans who had their minibus tyres slashed outside St Andrew's Stadium. During the 2012–13 season, Bristol City suffered a club record seven consecutive defeats. McInnes was sacked on 12 January 2013, after a 4–0 home defeat to

Leicester City Leicester ( ) is a city, unitary authority and the county town of Leicestershire in the East Midlands of England. It is the largest settlement in the East Midlands. The city lies on the River Soar and close to the eastern end of the National ...

left the club eight points adrift of safety. After being sacked by Bristol City, McInnes said that he was "very desperate" to succeed and that his time at Bristol City was difficult.

Aberdeen

McInnes was appointed

manager on 25 March 2013, with

Tony Docherty Tony Docherty (born 24 January 1971 in East Kilbride) is a Scottish football player and coach. Career Docherty's short career began in 1987 with Dunfermline Athletic before moving to English side Cambridge United. In the early 1990s, Doche ...

as his assistant. He officially took charge of the team after a match against

on 6 April, with outgoing manager Craig Brown taking charge of the last two games before the late-season split. After the final game with Brown as manager, McInnes vowed to improve the club by helping the city of

to "fall in love" with its football team again. Aberdeen remained unbeaten in September 2013, winning twice and drawing once in the league and progressing to the quarter-final of the League Cup with a 5–0 win over Falkirk. The team's excellent form earned McInnes the Manager of the Month award for September. The club had a positive start to 2014, taking maximum points from games against Dundee United, Kilmarnock and Hibernian. At the end of the month Russell Anderson scored in the 94th minute to level the game at 2–2 and secure a point for the ''Dons'' against Motherwell at

Fir Park Fir Park Stadium is a football stadium situated in Motherwell, North Lanarkshire, Scotland. The stadium plays host to the home matches of Scottish Premiership club Motherwell and was the temporary home of Gretna for the 2007–08 SPL season. M ...

to keep them in second place. McInnes praised his players and believed they "showed good determination to get something from the game." He was rewarded for his efforts as he picked up the Manager of the month award for February. Ahead of the League Cup final, McInnes signed an extension to his contract, tying himself to the club until the summer of 2017. Aberdeen won the

2014 Scottish League Cup Final The 2014 Scottish League Cup Final was the 68th final of the Scottish League Cup. The final took place on 16 March 2014 at Celtic Park, Glasgow. The clubs contesting the 2014 final were Scottish Premiership clubs, Aberdeen and Inverness CT. Th ...

4–2 on penalties, after a goalless draw, a success that saw them lift their first trophy in 19 years. McInnes led Aberdeen to European qualification for the first time since 2009, achieved through a third-place finish in the league campaign. However, McInnes was unsatisfied with the outcome when Motherwell beat Aberdeen 1–0 to take the second place. McInnes criticised the referee for ignoring the challenge when goalkeeper Jamie Langfield was fouled by John Sutton, which later led to the goal scored by Craig Reid. At the end of the season, McInnes was awarded both

PFA Scotland Manager of the Year The PFA Scotland Manager of the Year is awarded by the Professional Footballers' Association Scotland to the football manager in Scottish football who is seen to have been the best manager over the previous season. The award replaced, and is consid ...

and SFWA Manager of the Year. Early in the 2014–15 season, Aberdeen progressed through two qualifying rounds of the

UEFA Europa League The UEFA Europa League (abbreviated as UEL, or sometimes, UEFA EL), formerly the UEFA Cup, is an annual football club competition organised since 1971 by the Union of European Football Associations (UEFA) for eligible European football clubs. ...

, including an aggregate victory against Dutch club FC Groningen. Aberdeen finished second in the

2014–15 Scottish Premiership The 2014–15 Scottish Premiership was the second season of the Scottish Premiership, the highest division of Scottish football. The season began on 9 August 2014 and ended on the 31 May 2015. Celtic were the defending champions. Twelve teams ...

and again qualified for European competition. During the 2015 close season, despite mounting speculation that he was in talks to take over at Rangers, McInnes signed a new contract with the club keeping him at Pittodrie until 2019. His Aberdeen team pushed Celtic almost all the way in the

title race in 2015–16, with Celtic eventually beating Aberdeen 3–2 on 8 May 2016 to secured the league title with only two matches remaining. Aberdeen had begun that season winning all of their first eight league matches. McInnes led Aberdeen to a third straight runners-up spot behind Celtic in season 2016–17. His Aberdeen side also claimed its first win at Ibrox since September 1991, with a 2–1 victory on 17 May. Aberdeen also reached both domestic cup finals, losing both to Celtic. The team went on a ten-match winning streak at

Pittodrie Pittodrie Stadium, commonly referred to as Pittodrie, is an all-seater stadium in Aberdeen, Scotland. Used primarily for football, it has been the home ground of the Scottish Professional Football League (SPFL) club Aberdeen F.C. since they wer ...

, which surpassed Alex Ferguson's Aberdeen record of nine home wins in-a-row in 1985–86 (although not a club record). He was again shortlisted for

, but lost out to Celtic manager

Brendan Rodgers Brendan Rodgers (born 26 January 1973) is a Northern Irish professional football manager and former player who is the manager of Premier League club Leicester City. Rodgers began his career as a defender at Ballymena United, where he stayed ...

. In June 2017, Aberdeen granted permission for Sunderland to speak with McInnes about becoming their manager, but he decided to stay with Aberdeen. McInnes and Docherty subsequently signed a 1-year contract extension, keeping them with the ''Dons'' until the summer of 2020. Rangers made an approach for McInnes in December 2017 (immediately following two league games in four days between the clubs, both won by the Glasgow side) but he rejected that offer as well. McInnes was sent off by the referee for gesturing at Celtic fans during a 2018–19 Scottish Cup semi-final in April 2019. He was apparently reacting to sectarian abuse by Celtic fans, which was investigated by

Police Scotland Police Scotland ( gd, Poileas Alba), officially the Police Service of Scotland (), is the national police force of Scotland. It was formed in 2013, through the merging of eight regional police forces in Scotland, as well as the specialist service ...

. In July 2019 he signed a new contract with Aberdeen, due to run until 2022. After a poor run of results in early 2021, Aberdeen chairman Dave Cormack said that the board were "fully behind" McInnes. This run of form continued, as Aberdeen scored one goal in nine matches, and McInnes left the club by mutual consent on 8 March 2021.

Kilmarnock

McInnes was appointed manager of

Scottish Championship The Scottish Championship, known as the cinch Championship for sponsorship reasons, is the second tier of the Scottish Professional Football League, the league competition for men's professional football clubs in Scotland. The Scottish Champio ...

club Kilmarnock on an 18-month deal in early January 2022. On 22 April of the same year McInnes took Kilmarnock back to the Premiership by beating Arbroath 2–1 at

Rugby Park Rugby Park, also known as The BBSP Stadium Rugby Park for sponsorship reasons, is a football stadium situated in the Scottish town of Kilmarnock. It was first used in 1899 and is the home of Kilmarnock F.C. Rugby Park has also been used for co ...

to win the Championship title.

Career statistics

Player

Managerial record

Honours

Player

Greenock Morton *

Scottish Second Division The Scottish Football League Second Division was the third tier of the Scottish football league system between 1975 and 2013. History The Second Division was created in 1975, as part of a wider reconstruction of the Scottish Football League (SFL ...

: 1994–95 Rangers *

Scottish Premier Division The Scottish Football League Premier Division was, from 1975 until 1998, the top division of the Scottish Football League and the entire Scottish football league system. It lay above the Scottish Football League First, Second and (from 1994) ...

: 1996–97 *

Scottish Cup The Scottish Football Association Challenge Cup,1998–99 West Bromwich Albion * Football League First Division runner-up: 2001–02 Dundee United *Scottish Cup: Runner-up 2005 St Johnstone * Scottish Challenge Cup: 2007–08

Manager

St Johnstone *

Scottish First Division The Scottish Football League First Division was the second tier in the Scottish football league system between 1975 and 2013. History The First Division was introduced in 1975–76 to replace the old Scottish Football League Division Two, as ...

: 2008–09 Aberdeen *

: 2013–14 **Runners-up 2016–17, 2018–19 *

Scottish Cup The Scottish Football Association Challenge Cup,2016–17 Kilmarnock *

: 2021–22Kilmarnock 2-1 Arbroath: Rugby Park side seal Scottish Championship title
BBC Sport, 22 April 2022

References

External links

St Johnstone FC profile
* * {{DEFAULTSORT:McInnes, Derek 1971 births Aberdeen F.C. managers Bristol City F.C. managers Dundee United F.C. players Expatriate footballers in France Greenock Morton F.C. players Living people Millwall F.C. players Premier League players Rangers F.C. players Scotland international footballers Scottish expatriate footballers Scottish Football League managers Scottish Football League players Scottish football managers Scottish footballers Scottish Premier League managers Scottish Premier League players Scottish Professional Football League managers Footballers from Paisley, Renfrewshire St Johnstone F.C. managers St Johnstone F.C. players Stockport County F.C. players English Football League managers English Football League players Toulouse FC players West Bromwich Albion F.C. players Association football midfielders Kilmarnock F.C. managers