McInnes planning for next season

Apr 19 2011 by Gordon Bannerman, Perthshire Advertiser Tuesday

DEREK McInnes yesterday admitted his task is to rekindle Perth fans’ love affair with St Johnstone in the wake of the traumatic Scottish Cup semi-final loss to Motherwell.

And the Perth manager revealed re-building work is already under way as he maps out plans for next season, with several players heading for the McDiarmid Park exit.

With five games post-split remaining, St Johnstone are safe in the SPL for another season but they’re now labelled the lowest goalscorers in British football and his number one priority is to add a cutting edge and flair for next season.

There was no masking the acute disappointment felt by McInnes in the wake of a painful 3-0 loss which wrecked his ambition to steer Saints to their first-ever Scottish Cup final.

“Losing other semi-finals would get close to it but this is probably my worst experience as a manager,” he said.

“Going into the game I felt confident we could win it. I’d seen Motherwell at their best when they blew away Dundee United in the quarter-final but I still felt we could get the job done.

“We’d worked hard to get to Hampden and to lose in that manner was extremely disappointing. We didn’t show enough of our usual qualities.

“We now have to try and get the supporters to fall in love with us again as a club and get the enthusiasm back in time for the start of next season.

“That will mean the end of the road for a few players here, and we’ll hopefully make a few signings that will get everybody excited.

“Yes, there were individual mistakes in the semi-final but in the main the boys at the back have been excellent for us this season.

“That can happen, even though it was a hell of a time to have a bad day.

“Sometimes your Achilles heel is exposed at the biggest moment and on Saturday we didn’t have enough inspiration.”

McInnes stressed he will learn from the Hampden experience and emerge even stronger.

He stated: “For me, it will reinvigorate my determination to make sure we are successful.

“We’ll do what needs to be done. Some people have fallen short and the process of re-building begins now.

“It will be a big summer. We don’t take for granted our SPL status and we’ve done well to secure that for another year but I know the frustration of the supporters because for a lot of reasons this season hasn’t been as enjoyable as last.

“To reignite everyone’s enthusiasm and give some excitement to our supporters we need new players."