McInnes To Replace Rohl And Join His Bhoyhood Club In The Hope Of Dethroning Celtic

So long Danny Röhl… you chose wisely

A “progressive” coach.

Part of a “new direction”.

And then reality.

After finishing third last season and spending the better part of 40 Million, you can’t really blame him for looking at things and thinking there are safer ways to earn a living than being the manager for that lot.

Career-wise, it might actually be the smartest decision he’ll ever make.

Leaving when he did probably saves him from a mid-September sacking.

Which brings us neatly to what replaces him.

Derek McInnes.

Because while Röhl represented change on paper, McInnes represents something far more familiar in this league.

A “R*****s man”.

Recruitment “McInnes BLUE-print”

Derek McInnes is the man they’re turning to.

And with a new manager comes the usual reset in style, identity, and recruitment philosophy for that lot.

Last season it was all talk of modernisation. Recruitment models. Data-led profiles. A “new direction”.

Fast forward a year and it feels like we’re back to something far more familiar.

Expect a sharp shift in transfer strategy.

Less technical profiles.

More Scottish-based players.

And that in itself says a lot about where the ambition has landed.

Can McInnes actually repeat what he did at Hearts?

From a Celtic point of view, the big question is simple – does last season repeat itself?

Because his Hearts side did make things awkward at times.

They dragged us into a scrappy title race.

But there’s a big difference between doing that over a season as an underdog… and doing it again with expectation on your shoulders.

That Hearts team had freedom.

No pressure.

No real expectation of a title challenge.

And near the end, when the title expectation started to build, they fell apart.

At a bigger club, they’ll have that pressure straight away.

And if McInnes’s plan is to “make it ugly and nick results”, then it won’t last long in front of their support.

But yet again, we shouldn’t be looking over our shoulder; we should be raising the level again, but this Celtic board’s ambition is only matched to the challenge across the city, so it’s relevant for us.

Our response will be interesting

In reality, this appointment only matters if we allow it to matter.

That’s the key point.

McInnes can change their style.

He can make them more aggressive.

More Scottish-based in recruitment.

More direct in approach.

The question is whether it actually changes the balance at the top over a full season.

From a our perspective, the answer should still be no.

Because if we are doing our job properly in the market, the gap in quality should remain clear.

The danger for Celtic isn’t McInnes himself.

It’s complacency in dealing with that type of challenge.

Because the moment you drop levels, as last season showed, you can be in a bother.

And suddenly the narrative changes, even if the underlying quality of each squad hasn’t.

That’s why the response has to be immediate and obvious.

Not just in results, but in recruitment.

We can’t afford to stand still.

McInnes will try to make games awkward.

That’s what his teams do.

Our job is to make that irrelevant.

What Hearts will likely do differently

It will be interesting to see how Hearts respond to all of this.

You’d expect them to shift in a slightly different direction again.

More expansive recruitment.

A bit more ambition in profile and style.

Possibly a manager with a stronger emphasis on attacking.

They’ve been ripped apart so far this summer, losing their captain and now manager.

It’ll be interesting to see who they appoint.

Whether they double down on a Scotland-based manager

Or try to bridge the gap once again with one from the continent.