Rangers boss Derek McInnes is no fan of elongated international break
Derek McInnes declared himself to be no fan of the elongated international break as he made late preparations for Rangers’ return to domestic duties against Kilmarnock on Saturday.
Before the newly-formatted schedule for national teams which, for players appearing in the UEFA Nations League, brought four games in September and October, the rejuvenated Light Blues had won six in a row.
Four league wins including back-to-back victories against Celtic – one in the Premier Sports Cup – helped the Gers boss helped win the Scottish Premiership manager of the month award for September.
McInnes gathered his scattered squad together ahead of the visit of Killie – where they go into the game two points behind leaders Celtic, who travel to Motherwell on Sunday – and let his feelings about the break be known.
“I think ideally when you’re searching for that kind of run of form, you want to just keep it going,” said the Gers boss, who revealed midfielder Cammy Devlin will be out for six weeks after having a scan on a hamstring injury picked up in the 1-0 win at Celtic Park on September 20, the last match before the break.
“But we knew that little block of games from Aberdeen onwards was something we’d spoken about working towards the next break.
“To come through that break with six straight victories was brilliant from the lads and very important to us.
“But the other side of the question…the break has been too long. There’s no two ways about it. It’s unusually long. This is the first time this has been implemented.
“I just think that our players are away with different federations, working with different staff, travelling all over the world for four games.
“I think it’s tough for the players to be away from their families and the like.
“But equally for us, there’s a lot of nervousness about your players getting into other teams and other countries’ hands for so long.
“They’re all back in today, but they’re not all training today.
“The time we get all back together and training together tomorrow, it’ll be 19 days since the Celtic game.
“That’s longer than a lot of tournaments for a lot of countries. For me, I know it’s set in stone, but I’m not a fan of it, to be honest.
“I think this is something that’s seen as a good idea and it’s something that I think is imposed now for the next three seasons.
“Rather than September and October being two separate ones, just putting it all together.
“Like I say, it’s my first experience of it and if you’re asking me, it just feels like the players have been too long away.
“We’ve got training tomorrow, we’ve got a game on Saturday. We’ve just got to do all we can to be prepared and ready for that one because we need to be ready for it.”
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