Hearts announce McInnes as new head coach
Derek McInnes has been confirmed as the new head coach of Heart of Midlothian on a four-year contract.The 53-year-old leaves Scottish Premiership rivals Kilmarnock and succeeds Neil Critchley, who was sacked in late April after just six months in charge.Coaches Paul Sheerin and Alan Archibald will follow McInnes from Rugby Park to Tynecastle.McInnes been in charge at Kilmarnock since 2022 and last season guided the Ayrshire side into Europe by finishing fourth.His managerial career began when he took St Johnstone into the top flight in 2009 and, after a brief stint at Bristol City, he had eight years in Aberdeen, with whom he never finished lower than fourth and won the League Cup in 2014.McInnes left Pittodrie in 2021 and took charge of Kilmarnock the following January, leading them to promotion to the Premiership.His spell in Ayrshire ended with his side finishing in ninth, two places below Hearts.Kilmarnock lost 1-0 to Hearts at Rugby Park on Sunday, with McInnes absent from the home dugout after a compensation deal was agreed between the clubs.
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Glasgow Times
32 minutes ago
- Glasgow Times
Who's going to step up and replace Scotland's golden generation?
The youthfulness of Steve Clarke's squad for the friendly internationals against Iceland and Liechtenstein this month has, what with Connor Barron, Kieron Bowie, Tommy Conway, Josh Doig, Billy Gilmour, Max Johnston, Lennon Miller, Nathan Patterson and James Wilson all receiving call ups, certainly been heartening. The members of that nonet have an average age of just 21. Every one of them has a huge amount to offer their country at international level for many seasons to come. They have numerous qualifying campaigns left in them and hopefully a few finals too. The same is true of the injured duo Ben Doak, the Liverpool winger, and Aaron Hickey, the Brentford full-back. It was also encouraging to see the SFA roll out their Cooperation System – which will see up to three Scotland-qualified prospects under the age of 21 move freely between Premiership and Championship parent clubs and lower league outfits on loan from the 2025/26 season onwards – this week. Read more: Similar agreements already exist in Austria, Belgium, Croatia, Hungary and Serbia. Hopefully the long overdue scheme will enable our best prospects, who have often been prevented from gaining much-needed competitive game time in the senior ranks simply because their presence is needed to satisfy homegrown player quotas in European competition, to make the difficult transition from the age-group ranks. That initiative was one of the main recommendations contained within the Transition Phase paper which was co-authored by Andy Gould, the SFA's chief football officer, and Chris Docherty, the governing body's head of men's elite strategy and was published last year. That report contained many worrying revelations, damning findings and stark conclusions about how poorly Scotland is doing in comparison with other countries of a similar size across Europe when it comes to producing talented young footballers who are capable of flourishing in the paid ranks. But if anybody needed reminding just how few professionals are emerging, Brown Ferguson, the former Alloa, Hamilton and Partick Thistle midfielder and the current Stenhousemuir assistant manager who is also the assistant regional performance manager at sportscotland and the high performance manager to Scottish Golf, took to X (formerly Twitter) to tell us. He posted a series of alarming statistics about the Premiership last season. Here are a few of the most startling. Just 31.46 per cent of players to start games in the top flight were Scottish. That is down from 45 per cent three years ago. On average, just 3.23 per cent of players kicking off on a Saturday are under 21, just four out of 132. No fewer than 20 team selections failed to contain a single Scot. Aberdeen and Celtic didn't start an under-21 player in the 2024/25 campaign. The SFA have identified these major problems and are endeavouring to address them. The SPFL clubs, who in the past have shown they are more concerned with self-interest than the greater good, have endorsed and embraced their plans. But is it too little too late? Our leading clubs face a raft of challenges running academies and bringing through youngsters who are capable of representing their first teams every year. The issues which Brexit and raids on their age-group squads by their wealthier English rivals have presented in recent years have been well documented in these pages. Far fewer footballers who are good enough are emerging. These are pretty exciting times in Scottish football with Brighton owner Tony Bloom buying a major stake in Hearts and a consortium comprising American billionaire Andrew Cavenagh and the San Francisco 49ers taking over Rangers. With Hibernian a far more formidable force than they were and Aberdeen lifted by their epic Scottish Cup triumph, next season promises to be a belter. Read more: But the focus in recent weeks has very much been on how much money every club will spend and who will be brought in this summer. The new powerbrokers seem unconcerned about doing their bit to help our national game by rearing homegrown heroes. Sure, wanting to promote youth has been mentioned in passing. It appears, though, fairly far down their list of priorities. Such is the money mad modern game. There is, with Barron, Bowie, Conway, Doig, Gilmour, Johnston, Miller, Patterson and Wilson as well as Lewis Ferguson, Jack Hendry, George Hirst, Andy Irving, Scott McKenna, Scott McTominay and John Souttar all in the current Scotland squad, no reason for Tartan Army footsoldiers to panic. (Image: Craig Williamson - SNS Group) Yet, the World Cup qualifying campaign which will get underway with away games against Denmark and Belarus in September may well prove to be the last that Che Adams, Stuart Armstrong, Ryan Christie, Lyndon Dykes, Craig Gordon, Grant Hanley, John McGinn, Kenny McLean, Andy Robertson, Lawrence Shankland and Kieran Tierney are involved in. Some will retire after it, others will stay on. But we are witnessing the last hurrah of a golden generation. Will those who come after that aforementioned group grace, as many of their predecessors did, the Premier League and the Champions League? The majority of them still have some way to go to scale the same heights as their compatriots. A few will manage it, but many won't. Clarke lamented how few goalkeepers he had to choose from when he announced his squad last month. He, or his successor, may be left bemoaning the lack of centre-backs, full-backs, holding midfielders, playmakers, wingers and strikers going forward. There must be a concerted collective effort from club owners and managers or qualification for the finals of major tournaments will be a thing of the past.
BBC News
an hour ago
- BBC News
Scottish gossip: Kygo, Maeda, Coady, Diomande, Turgeman, Johnston, lovu, Robertson
Kyogo Furuhashi could return to Celtic six months after a £10m transfer to Rennes that has turned sour, with the Scottish champions and the Japan forward both keen on the move, but Bournemouth could make an offer for the 30-year-old in the coming weeks. (Transferfeed via Foot 7), external Celtic have told Fenerbahce they want £21m for Daizen Maeda as negotiations begin over the Japan forward, while Tottenham Hotspur are also interested in the 27-year-old. (Sozcu), external Rangers have opened talks with Maccabi Tel Aviv over the signing of 21-year-old Israel forward Dor Turgeman, who also has Italian and Spanish interest and could cost around £4m. (Daily Record), external Rangers were one of several clubs who approached Maccabi Tel Aviv about a mid-season transfer for striker Dor Turgeman. (Sport 5 via Scottish Sun), external New Rangers head coach Russell Martin is weighing up a move for defender Conor Coady, with the 32-year-old's future with Leicester City uncertain after relegation from the Premier League and despite having a year left of his contract. (Daily Record), external Head coach Russell Martin wants to build his new-look Rangers team around Mohamed Diomande and will reject any approach from Everton for the 23-year-old midfielder. (Football Insider), external Sunderland have their eyes on Sturm Graz right-back Max Johnston, but only if Trai Hume seals a transfer to Wolverhampton Wanderers, while Lens and Nice are also closely watching the 21-year-old Scotland defender. (Ekrem Konur on X), external
BBC News
an hour ago
- BBC News
What now for Scotland as Clarke enters final chapter?
Three hundred and sixty five long days ago, Steve Clarke's Scotland strode out at Hampden Park, their last auf Wiedersehen before they went off to give Germany, Switzerland and Hungary what for at Euro 2024. By the time they finished their farewell on the back of an uninspiring - and at times chaotic - 2-2 draw, those in the stands could probably tell what was about to unfold over the next few weeks. They had seen it all before at the previous Euros. They had bought the T-shirt and the sticker album. A year on, that feeling lingered in the Glasgow air again. Against a bang average Iceland, Clarke's Scotland were meek, weak and bleak. The snarling Scots who bloodied the noses of Spain were nowhere to be seen. No whiff of the streetwise bunch who suckered Croatia and Poland within days of each other last night at Hampden has left more questions than answers. Clarke may have hauled Scotland to two major finals, but there have been some real raw moments of alarm that have brought a dose of reality and gravity to it was the latest one, a sucker right between the eyes. "Don't get cocky boys, remember, you're Scotland, you don't qualify for World Cups. Down you go."Qualification for 2026 global showpiece does not start until September for Scotland, but this was meant to be the first step towards it. Instead, the Tartan Army are entitled to wonder where Clarke's team is going. Slicker only part of horror story It took until an hour after full-time on Friday for the Scotland head coach to emerge to give his view on what had just unfolded. As ever, Clarke remained level in his tone and mood. There was disappointment at a lacklustre start. There was sympathy for clearly confidence-stricken goalkeeper Cieran Slicker, who was plunged into the debut of his nightmares after Angus Gunn's early departure. There was a low-key hope that next time - Liechtenstein on Monday - will be fairness, it could not have been a whole lot worse. Scotland were unimaginative in front of goal and porous in defence against the world's 74th-best team. Slicker - Ipswich Town's back up who has yet to play a league game - will be cursing his sloppy kick out seconds after coming on that led to the opener. He will also no doubt be replaying goals two and three that evaded his to lay all Scotland's failings at the door of a 22-year-old making an unexpected debut would be grossly unfair. This was a Scotland team - containing two Serie A champions, a Coppa Italia final hero, and a Premier League winner among others - who could not conjure enough to overcome an Iceland team who lost 3-1 to Kosovo at home in it was a friendly, but an alarm is going off. Three months ago, the Scots were shellacked 3-0 at home by Greece, halting any sort of momentum built from three wins on the spin. But, in truth, Clarke's side have come up short more often than not in recent times, even if performances have sometimes merited more. Four wins from their last 21 games. Twelve defeats in that time, 22 goals scored and 42 against. Losses at home to Northern Ireland, Finland, Greece and now Iceland. It does not give off the feel of a Scotland team who can just get the job done. Of a team that is moving forward. "If you go back only a very short period of time, Steve Clarke could do no wrong," former Scotland striker Steven Thompson said on BBC Scotland."This is a defeat, at home, to a weaker nation than ourselves and questions will be asked. When you go into proper World Cup qualifying, these performances won't be tolerated." What now for Clarke? Thompson is right about that, but where are Scotland under Clarke?Undoubtedly, the former Kilmarnock and West Bromwich Albion manager has overseen the brightest spell for Scotland in terms of qualification since the 1990s. Two European Championships have been reached, after a hollow feeling was left after both finals, given how much of a whimper the Scots went out on each occasion. The novelty of simply being there had worn off as Germany's fifth goal hit the net in last June's torrid opening game in Munich.A World Cup still eludes Clarke, who has said there is a "75% chance" he will not renew his deal with the Scottish FA after next summer's finals. A quick scan of social media tells you some are clamouring for that to be a 0% chance. And now. But is that rational after a friendly defeat?Clear, logical thinking and a football fan after a bad defeat rarely go hand in hand, but these friendlies are not without meaning or consequence. Scotland now have a cluster of players good enough to compete in a qualifying group containing Denmark, Greece and Belarus. The problem is, would you stick your mortgage on them getting the job done?Scotland striker Lyndon Dykes and former forward James McFadden both spoke post-match about momentum and its importance. Lose in Liechtenstein and Clarke's side are going into their opener in Denmark on the back of three defeats."I think Steve Clarke will admit that it's not good enough," former Scotland defender Willie Miller said."I don't see him changing in any way his support for the players, but you've got to be honest with the fans, with everybody, that that's not acceptable."In reality, it is unlikely anything will happens in Liechtenstein that prevents Clarke from being the man to try to navigate Scotland through a qualifying. Although that opinion might be revised after another defeat. He should have enough credit in the bank, though, and there will be enough desire from him to be the man to get Scotland to a World Cup for the first time since by Clarke's own admission, we are likely entering his final chapter. Friendlies or not, how he handles the coming days - and how his team end this international window - could play a key part in defining his legacy as Scotland is all about momentum. Clarke and Scotland need to find it - and fast.
