Derek McInnes doesn't hold Hearts grudge but I suspect he'll have reason to pause when Tynecastle call comes – Keith Jackson

When it comes - and it surely will this time around - Derek McInnes may have some serious thinking to do before he accepts the invitation.

It’s not a question of holding a grudge, even though he would have every right to feel a little scorned and aggrieved about being overlooked by Hearts when the manager’s situation became vacant earlier in the season.

McInnes was the obvious choice when Steven Naismith was kicked to the curb just as he is still today, now that the whole curious Neil Critchley calamity has come to its inevitable messy ending.

And it now seems pretty much certain that the Edinburgh outfit will pick up the phone to Kilmarnock at some point in the next 24 hours to start a conversation they should have been having back in October.

McInnes wants the job too. Be in no doubt whatsoever about that.

He’s had an eye on the Tynecastle hotseat for some considerable time as well as the solid, unshakable belief that he would be capable of establishing the club as a genuine force to be reckoned with in the Scottish game.

Having done precisely this at Aberdeen over the course of his eight year reign at Pittodrie, his credentials are as close to being as impeccable and iron cast as they come.

It’s the ultimate in no brainer appointments. Which is exactly why McInnes may have reason to pause and to think twice if and when his phone does finally ring and he hears the voice of Ann Budge or Andrew McKinlay on the other end of the line.

It’s not a matter of having his nose out of joint from a previous snub. Rather, it’s a matter of determining whether or not the people who would become his employers can be considered credible and worthy of his trust.

And that’s anything but a no brainer given the mess they have been making