Derek McInnes admits Kilmarnock opener left him 'beaten up and drained' before Premiership redemption

The remarkable rise of Kilmarnock has made for one of the most compelling, satisfying plot lines of the season so far.

A club which was in danger of stagnating in the second tier of the Scottish game until Derek McInnes received an SoS from deepest, darkest Ayrshire. By his own admission McInnes hadn’t even contemplate dropping down the leagues when the call came from chairman Billy Bowie. After almost a decade spent at Aberdeen – and having been in the running for jobs with both Rangers and Scotland over that time – the idea of touring around Scotland’s Championship was not exactly what he had in mind as the next step of his managerial career.

Less than two years on, Kilmarnock now sit in fourth position in the top flight, closing in on a top-six finish and perhaps a place in European football. Having scalped both Celtic and Rangers along the way. A remarkable rise? You’d better believe it. Just don’t call it a redemption story. Well, not in front of McInnes at any rate. “I don’t know if I like the word redemption,” he says as his brow slips into a furrow. Redemption is the wrong word for me.

“I don’t know what people think but my record at Aberdeen deserved to be recognised. It’s not an easy club to manage and we won a League Cup up there with a team full of young players. We had a good thing going.

“A lot of people will rubbish it – and they do – but what we did at Aberdeen was good for the vast majority of the time. I know how to manage. I left every club I have managed in a better state than I found it.

“Aberdeen were finishing eighth, ninth and 10th on a regular basis, weren’t getting to cup finals and hadn’t performed in Europe regularly enough. We managed to make that better.”

Aberdeen, of course, are now looking