Boss McInnes to miss Kilmarnock v Hearts – reaction & your views

Derek McInnes will not be in charge of Kilmarnock for Sunday’s match against Hearts, with the manager poised to move from the Ayrshire club to their Scottish Premiership rivals.

The 53-year-old had said on Tuesday he expected to be in the dugout for the final two games of the season, despite the clubs having agreed a compensation deal for his summer switch.

But, following Wednesday’s 3-0 defeat away to Motherwell, Kilmarnock announced McInnes and his staff would not lead the team at the weekend.

“It has been agreed between our board of directors, Derek McInnes and his staff that the best approach would be if they were not in charge for the final match of the season,” a statement read.

However, Kilmarnock now say Sheerin and coach Alan Archibald will also not be involved in Sunday’s game against Hearts, with Chris Burke and Craig Clark taking charge of the team.

McInnes is next week expected to formally succeed Neil Critchley, who was sacked as head coach in late April after just six months in charge.

He has been in charge at Rugby Park 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 top flight and keeping them in it since.

Burke, 41, insists the club should be thankful for what McInnes achieved and that once emotion is taken out of it, everyone will be able reflect on that success.

And the youth team coach insisted it was “difficult to answer” whether he wants to be part of the first team coaching set-up, having enjoyed success in his existing role including winning the Scottish Youth Cup final.

“As a club, as people and staff, and especially myself, we can only be thankful for what Derek has done for the club,” said the former Kilmarnock, Rangers and Scotland winger.

“It’s been a long journey, but a good journey in my opinion. If you really think about it, his first game was at Queen of the South, then we were playing in Copenhagen.

Archie: What an embarrassing last few days for our club. I’m genuinely disgusted. For 60 years I’ve followed Kilmarnock and I have never seen such despicable behaviour.

Derek McInnes talks of how he always puts Killie first? Don’t make me laugh. I’ll be glad to see the back of him. Where was he post-match?

Billy Bowie should come out and explain the situation because it’s a complete and utter shambles.

Alastair: McInnes was the man at the right time for us, but it certainly is his time at Kilmarnock to finish. No point in us berating him; instead we should be looking forward to a new manager with new ideas to put us back up where we should be.

Scott: The game was a complete sideshow to the mess McInnes has created over the last week.

If he wanted to see out the season, he needed to say he’s the Killie manager and completely focused on finishing the season strongly with us. Nothing about Hearts until the season is over.

But instead, he’s created a circus. Paul Sheerin’s post-match comments were embarrassing and patronising to the fans, too.

James: I think Hearts and, to a certain extent, the media have treated Kilmarnock with total disrespect. They could easily have waited until next week to make their approach for McInnes.

Killie are certainly in a better position than when McInnes arrived, and I just hope the next manager can take us forward.

Graeme: Derek has punched above his weight at Killie. Unfortunately, we have to accept that Hearts are a bigger club – not a better club – than we are and he deserves the chance to go there and progress both Hearts and himself.