Andy Walker says that Celtic can’t write off Derek McInnes’ Rangers, despite the manager’s poor record against them.
McInnes has a win percentage of just 13.1% against the Hoops. In 61 clashes, he has won just eight, drawn four and lost a whopping 49.
The obvious counter-argument is that he has been at a financial disadvantage to Celtic in his roles at Hearts, Kilmarnock, Aberdeen and St Johnstone, but it doesn’t bode well for a man entering the Ibrox dugout to have such a track record of failure against their biggest rivals.
Walker was under no illusions about the extent of the rebuild needed at Celtic Park, but he wasn’t drawn by McInnes’ record.
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Andy Walker intrigued by upcoming Celtic rebuild
Discussing the managerial situations in Glasgow on the Go Radio Football Show, Walker said: “It’s such a big summer for Celtic and their playing squad.
“I don’t know who’s identifying players.
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“I really hope that Martin O’Neill gets the type of players that he wants in the door.
“And my experience would be: no matter what is happening in Glasgow, you never write off your greatest rivals.
“Derek McInnes has never worked with the kind of resources that he will be working with now. I imagine he will be backed in the transfer market, as Danny Rohl was.
“Obviously, it didn’t work out. Rangers finished third, which was a big surprise to everyone. Absolute collapse once the post-split fixtures came out.
“But I think it will be really exciting. I’m really intrigued to see how Celtic rebuild a team from last season, where most people we were speaking to [said] it was hardly a vintage Celtic side.
“And it absolutely needs a sprinkling of quality in every department.”
Walker is right to put the emphasis on Celtic’s squad management, but it can be true at the same time that McInnes is hardly a front-footed appointment.
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Celtic should smell blood from Rangers’ appointment of Derek McInnes
This time last year, McInnes had just finished ninth with Kilmarnock. It would’ve been unfathomable that he would be Rangers manager within 12 months.
Of course, the reason for this is his extraordinary impact at Hearts which saw them finish the season on 80 points.
But beyond that, the context of McInnes’ season at Tynecastle hardly paints him as winner. In fact, far from it.
His combative media demeanour backfired spectacularly when they lost the league title in such grand circumstances and immediately started pointing the finger in every direction but themselves.
Had they managed more than one away win from February until the end of the season, they would’ve deservedly taken the title ahead of an adverse Celtic team…
But they didn’t.
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