McInnes to Rangers latest as Hearts board hold emergency talks | OneFootball

While Steven Gerrard is the prime candidate to take over at Rangers now, and Sean Dyche has very certainly ruled himself out, there was an element of mystery about Derek McInnes, the current manager at Hearts.

Hearts

The Tynecastle board were very well aware of McInnes’ interest in Rangers, given the fact that not only is he a Rangers man in the first place, but he was also very close to taking the reins eight or so years ago.

Interest in the press, in the media, and at Ibrox in McInnes’ services has not gone unnoticed, and Tynecastle’s board have sought to secure McInnes properly. That is to say, there have been discussions between McInnes and the board to clarify his position in light of any potential interest from Rangers.

Sought

The board in Edinburgh have confirmed to McInnes that he is very keenly sought to remain there, and our understanding is that McInnes has assured them that he wants to remain. We are less clear if he has explicitly said he will reject Rangers if Rangers move for him. However, he has committed to Hearts, stating clearly that he does want to remain there and doesn’t intend to leave.

Of course, Walter Smith said very much the same things to Scotland all those years ago, only for Rangers to make their move and the Scotland manager to then go to the only place that he would ever have left Scotland for — Ibrox. McInnes may well be the same, but in theory, the Tynecastle board got about 90% of the answer from their man that they wanted.

If Rangers do go for McInnes at some point during this hunt — albeit the chances of that are a little bit lower now with Gerrard’s interest — nevertheless, if they do pursue their interest in McInnes after all, very ample compensation would be sought by Hearts, who have no interest in letting McInnes go.

What Tony Bloom and McInnes are building in Edinburgh is a very structured and effective machine, and they don’t want anything disrupting it. McInnes is the most high-profile and high-stock Scottish manager in the game at the moment north of the border.

He is very much a coveted asset, and Rangers very much dropped the ball in not getting him or indeed Gerrard in the summer — but that’s another story. As for McInnes himself, he would be unlikely at this point to want to leave Hearts, but it is still very much head against heart if Rangers came calling. Time will tell what happens with Derek McInnes to Rangers.