Exclusive:Derek McInnes reveals his routine to prepare for Hearts v Hibs - the biggest derby of his managerial career
SPFL Premiership sees its first all-Edinburgh meeting this weekend
It’s the biggest derby of Derek McInnes’ managerial career. Yes, Aberdeen-Rangers games were seismic during his time at Pittodrie and still are, but they don’t qualify as proper inner-city rivalry. Hearts against Hibs certainly does. Increased tension across Edinburgh in the build-up to Saturday’s Premiership meeting at Tynecastle Park is impossible to miss. McInnes has his own coping methods.
The Hearts head coach lives just outside Glasgow and therefore leaves behind the Capital chaos each day when driving out of the Riccarton car park. It is wise to avoid becoming caught up in the frenzy too much in a week like this. On game day, McInnes has his own routine involving a good few hours of quiet time. Perhaps longer this week given his team don’t meet Hibs until 5.45pm on Saturday.
He managed St Johnstone against Dundee United, didn’t meet Bristol Rovers during his time in charge of Bristol City, enjoyed many a ding-dong with Aberdeen against Rangers, and experienced two Kilmarnock-Ayr United games before guiding the Rugby Park club to Premiership promotion. None of that compares to Hearts-Hibs and McInnes knows it having attended enough of them over the years.
“Aye, it will be my biggest derby as a manager,” he told the Edinburgh News. “I don’t have superstitions but I do have behaviours and things I like to do through routine in the build-up. That’s the same for any game. You wake up on a Saturday morning and there’s a physical difference. As soon as you wake up, you know it’s game day. You’re ready go and you’re alert.
“Night games are a bit challenging for me because, when it’s game day, then as soon as you wake up you want to get to the game. I try to occupy my mornings. Afternoon kick-offs are a bit easier because you just get up and go to work. I’m always in quite early and I’ll probably do that again on Saturday. I’ll just wake up and head over.”
The drive east provides useful thinking time. Hearts’ preparations are meticulous as every last detail is relayed to players in the days beforehand. Matchday itself is more about fine-tuning or delivering a particular message in the dressing room before kick-off. McInnes will get to Tynecastle long before anyone else on Saturday.
“That’s what I like to get to the stadium for. I like that quiet time, that couple of hours before everybody else turns up. I actually quite like walking into an empty stadium. You just try to get that little bit of quiet ahead of the game. All the decisions have been made by that point. It’s just important to get a good night’s sleep and then it’s just the final message and maybe reinforcing certain things. What needs to be decided has been decided.
“I’ve done a few supporter events since I’ve been here. From being in and around the club, everybody is clear to impart the message about beating Hibs. We’re well aware of the importance of it for supporters. We all want to win the game and we know the benefits of doing that. We want to treat it the same way we’ve treated all the games. I want us to treat all the games like derbies but this is a real derby and we want to come out of it with a win. We are facing a team with the same intent and at times these games are difficult to predict. From our point of view, you just have to concentrate on the performance.”
Hearts’ performances across their 11 games under McInnes’ tutelage have generally been strong. They sit proudly atop the Scottish Premiership table although only six league games have passed. There is still an enormous amount of work to be done. After beating Falkirk 3-0 at Tynecastle last Saturday, and Rangers 2-0 at Ibrox previous to that, momentum is building in Gorgie.
“I think we will need to keep improving,” said McInnes. “When we have won, it’s still the same elation and joy you always get, but some games you enjoy more because they have been a bit more stressful. Or maybe the performance is more of a 90-minute performance. I thought Saturday was better in that sense. We got a lot from the game, a clean sheet, and getting that in the Premiership is tough. Falkirk have shown they can be a tough opponent and we imposed ourselves on them. Saturday was probably the performance I enjoyed the most.
“I’ve been delighted with the players’ approach. I think they enjoy seeing the rewards of their work. They work hard and everybody is motivated to do well, even the boys who haven’t been playing. I feel everybody is training with proper motivation and purpose. That’s what we need to maintain throughout the season because everybody in the squad will be utilised at some point.”