Derek McInnes spoke at length to RedTV hours after returning from his summer break:
“I think that is what the close season is for, to have a break and come back refreshed. Obviously with the European campaign coming so quickly, it’s important to make sure that we are still actively doing our job. It is important that the players switch off for a while. For the staff though they are constantly working and preparing to improve and ensuring we’re ready. “It’s good to be back all the same and looking I am looking forward to it. The games will be on before we know it and with the European draw on Monday, league fixtures out this Friday, there is a lot going on and we are actively trying to make additions to the squad and taking up loans for some of the younger ones so it has been a busy time. “Although I know we get linked with a different player every day. “I am delighted with the signings yesterday. “Both Callum and Joe are a good age. They have a decent amount of experience, but also have the ability to improve. Both are also good deals for the club as well. “Callum was one we always liked at Dundee United, he was always the better of the centre-halfs when we played them and we were always pleased when his name wasn’t on the team sheet. He’s had a couple of injuries, but when he has played for Dundee United we feel that he has brought a level of performance there that he might well improve with us. We’ve given him that opportunity to do it, although he knows he has a fight on his hands to get in the team. “We said we want to improve physically as a team, so I think both players are going to do that. Certainly Joe, the size of him, the presence he’s got. Plus he has a good level of experience and I think that again he is someone we feel we can give an opportunity for him to go and get his career going again and in the right way. “Joe Lewis was someone that a lot was thought of when he was younger. He’s been at a couple of clubs who have been struggling recently. It’s important for him that he finds a home now and hopefully he can come here and enjoy his time with us. “Last season we found out how important the goalkeeping position is. It is a difficult situation to improve. We did well to get Danny Ward last year, when we signed him we did not quite know what we were going to get as although we liked him and scouted him, sometimes younger players with that lack of game time, you just don’t know how they will perform. So (with his experience) we are delighted to get Joe in. “And we are also delighted to get Neil Alexander in. He was up there with top performing goalkeepers last season. In the last couple of seasons he has also been part of a championship winning team and a huge influence on that side and then part of a successful season for Hearts last year. So when Neil became available it was one that we were drawn to because of the natural ability that he has shown over the last couple seasons. “When Danny left we did suffer there is no question of that and it demonstrated and highlighted the importance of having good goalkeepers at your club. I think it is such an important position and it is a difficult position to recruit for. It can have a negative effect if that position is not as solid as it can be and I think we saw that towards the end of last season. “I think with the experience of Joe and Neil, with the two of them fighting for the position, we will now loan our other two keepers out. We have two loans set up for Danny Rogers and Aaron Lennox and we will probably make an announcement on that over the next few weeks. “When Danny Rogers signed his new deal, we had a conversation and Danny’s concern was that if he was not going to be number one here he’d be keen to go back out on loan and that’s something we said we’d look at in the close season. “So we made a decision to bring in someone with more experience whilst at the same time we can allow Danny to keep developing. Danny and Aaron will stay with us for the pre-season work at St. Andrews, but then as I say we have a couple of loans in mind for them and agreed a few things in principle with clubs that we feel will allow those boys to continue their development as we feel we have two good young goalkeepers there. “We need to give them every chance to improve and hopefully they come back ready to challenge. “But, I am delighted to have Neil on board and I think that he has shown that hunger. He might be at that later stage of his career, but we’ve seen over the last few seasons here with Robson and Anderson the influence they can still have at that age. Knowing Neil as I do he will be determined to get that number one spot from Joe Lewis who we have a high regard for.” “I anticipate a few more players coming in. “We have made good sensible signings at the minute. We still feel there is a need for improvement and bolstering of the squad. It is difficult because the players have done well of late and it is getting that balance to try and get the quality in with the necessary numbers. “For me with the early start again there has been a pattern the last couple of seasons that we haven’t managed to maintain it right through to the end of the season and there could be different reasons for that. I think January (transfer window) has to be a strong one for us. But right now we are concentrating on improving the squad between now and January and getting as strong a squad as possible so where there will be a few players going out on loan to help their development, there will still be a few players coming in.” “We go to St. Andrews today. The players have come back well, we are getting all the skinfolds, body fats and tests done. There is always that first day apprehension for any player coming back and I think that the new players coming in it has added to that. It’s good to get the players back in and see everyone again. “Our pre-seasons have been different for the last couple of years because we need to get the players ready for that first couple games as well as the entire campaign. To try and get both spot on can be tricky, but we will try and be specific with each and every player and get the necessary results, but the players are very professional, very aware of what they need of themselves, we will work with them and get them tip top for the first game proper.” “We are delighted to add Barry Robson to our coaching staff. “I thought he would be good for us and we want to be good for him. Barry’s influence on the pitch has diminished the last season or so, but his influence behind the scenes has always been there. I’ve known him for a long time and he’s someone I trust, I like working with and like having him about here. We want to try and help him, help him learn the ropes, but he also has an important role to play and bring something to the staff as well as the team. “He’s naturally enthusiastic, eager to learn. His coaching responsibilities will be quite broad and given that he will still be actively around the first team and he took real delight this morning by going in and asking which one of the first team players were going to clean his boots, so I think he’s using his stripes already!” The manager then looked ahead to the European draw on Monday. “I really enjoy that side to it. When the draw is made you may know the teams by name, but you don’t know anything about them and we normally feel that within 24 hours we have a good hand of what we are getting – their likely formation, most effective players, team shape so we actively get busy. We will all go away and look at different games and we will formulate a team we think we will be facing, strengths and weaknesses. “I think that last year Shkendija were a good side and we did well to beat them. It was a tough nut to crack and we did well to get through, that’s the level we need to expect in the first round so we need to be ready for it. “Russ Richardson and Tom O’Neill will scout them, our video analyst Greig Thompson will be at St. Andrews working hard trying to find the right information. But I’m looking forward to it and I think we need to keep reminding ourselves that we were a long time without European football and whilst at sometimes it can seem that early starts and here we go again and needing to be ready for it, you would still rather be in it than from outside in. “European football brought a lot of real highlights to our season, a lot of good experiences to the supporters, players and staff alike and hopefully we can have more of the same. The idea is to be as ready as we can to put in as strong a performance as we can. If we can produce the performances, we are capable of then we have a real chance to progress through the rounds.”
RedTV | Watch the full interview | please click here RedTV | The manager talks to RedTV about the signing of Neil Alexander | please click here
RedTV | Watch the full interview | please click here RedTV | The manager talks to RedTV about the signing of Neil Alexander | please click here
