Derek McInnes doesn’t see why Kilmarnock can’t become big-occasion Hampden regulars. There’s a desire in the Rugby Park boss. There’s a belief in his club and his players. And there's evidence to prove it can be done.
What started for McInnes' boys in Fraserburgh last July now arrives at the National Stadium. Even before reaching Bellslea Park for the first group-stage game, the boss had one eye on Hampden. McInnes had been there often enough as boss of Aberdeen. He’s seen ex-club St Johnstone win silverware recently.
St Mirren, Inverness, Falkirk, Ross County, Motherwell and Livingston have all been in major Hampden Finals since Killie’s last appearance almost 11 years ago. McInnes wants his club back in the mix as he stated: “I’ve always felt that cup competitions give you the best opportunities of success and, if you are a Premiership team as we are, why not us? Why should it be up to someone else to perform in semi-finals and finals?
“The pressure will be on us to do the same in the Scottish Cup as it is in the League Cup. Over the course of time, as we start to put the bricks in place, we want to be a very strong cup team as well as an established Premiership team again.
“It is important now that we have got to this stage. We did say the very first game at Fraserburgh in the group stages to try and see the bigger picture and that Hampden was not as far away as you think. To picture that.
“And that is where we are now. Hopefully we have that day in the final as well as the semi-final. I don’t see why we shouldn’t embrace it. I don’t think we are putting ourselves under any pressure to perform in wanting to be a good cup team. It is important that you are a good cup team.
“I felt as though we were that at St Johnstone with two semi-finals in the one season. My first season as a manager in the Championship, we lost to Walter Smith’s team after extra-time [in 2008]. If VAR had been about then I’m not sure they would have got their penalty with Nacho Novo.
“As a player I won semi-finals, but I have also lost semi-finals as a player and a manager. They are normally fraught, full of tension, people not wanting to make mistakes.”
Ironically, McInnes isn’t the biggest fan of the place when it comes to managing. He said: “I don’t think it is a great venue for managers and coaches once the game starts. It feels quite far away. It always feels as though you can influence it less at Hampden than most other grounds.”
Yet that didn’t stop him arranging visits time and again as boss of the Dons. Tonight’s opponents ruined many of his trips, none more so than when Brendan Rodgers’ Invincibles ripped the Scottish Cup out of his grasp in 2017.
But McInnes had good days and, looking back, wishes he enjoyed them more as he said: “You feel the enormity of defeats more than you enjoy the highs of winning and that is something I’d like to change, to be honest. The enjoyment has got to be there. We aren’t just going there to enjoy the day. It is about winning.
“But anytime going forward, if we get a positive result, I’m determined to try and enjoy the moment more because you wallow in the defeats and pain. It is so much worse.”
Naturally, given the current status of the teams, most observers feel McInnes will be feeling the pain of defeat again this evening. Having lost 2-0 at Celtic Park seven days ago, the Killie boss has been working day and night to try and work out a winning formula.
It’s all tall order, but McInnes said: “If we had had a right sore one last Saturday, it would have been a hard sell for me this week. So we set up in a way and were organised enough to stay in the game.
“I have been at Celtic Park as player and manager when your goal is getting peppered and battered and your goalie is pulling off worldies, and it wasn’t that. It was their first shot on target when they scored.
“Celtic were the better team, there is no denying that. We’ve got to try and find a way for that not to be the case. I don’t think they will be overly worrying about us. I listen to their manager and he is always talking about their level of performance.
“Likewise, I am not going to overly worry about Celtic because I know what they are. They have options, strength in depth. Their bench last Saturday was ridiculous. i’m just looking to give our players the best chance to overcome that.”
Comparisons between Postecoglou’s Celtic machine and Rodgers' vintage are common and McInnes said: “Just from the outside looking in, this team maybe has more development in it. They have signed players at a really good age, there is a real hunger about them, a real honesty, a real work ethic.
“I’m not saying Brendan’s team didn’t have that, and sometimes it can be misconstrued. Both offer loads of challenges for teams, but they can be beaten.”
Which is where McInnes has his evidence. He led the first Scottish team to sink a Rodgers side at Parkhead to secure second spot for Aberdeen in 2018. He said: “It can be done. You need a lot of things to go right, but I sense a positivity, a belief about the team that is definitely going to be needed.”
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