Aberdeen manager Derek McInnes has dismissed Celtic manager Ronny Deila’s boast that the Hoops will win their fifth consecutive title this season by insisting the Norwegian should feel confident given he has a budget 10 times better than any other club in the Scottish Premiership.
Deila dismissed the Dons’ eight-game winning start and five- point lead at the top of the table by saying he could not care less what McInnes’ side was doing and reaffirmed his belief his side will be celebrating five-in-a-row come May next year.
McInnes, who takes his side to Caledonian Stadium today to face Inverness, believes he would feel every bit as confident had he a budget 10 times better than his rivals.
The Dons manager said: “I know he said they’ll win five in a row but any manager in our league would be confident in saying something like that given the level of finances Celtic have when the rest of us are working on budgets of between £1million and £2million and they’re working with £20m.
“I’ve got no problems with that. Every manager has to concentrate on their own team and we’re no different. We just concentrate on ourselves.”
The Dons will attempt to put a disappointing League Cup exit at Hibernian on Wednesday behind them as they bid to maintain their advantage at the top of the league against Caley Jags today.
McInnes hopes the returning Jonny Hayes, who is available again following a two-match suspension, can help provide the attacking spark which was lacking in the surprise 2-0 loss at Easter Road.
He said: “We need to analyse why we lost the game but the good thing is that come Thursday morning we turned our thoughts to Inverness. It’s about how we react to the defeat and that has never been an issue for us.
“The Inverness game is always competitive. We’ll have 3,000 supporters there and it’s always a big thing for Inverness when we go there and we’ll have two good teams fighting for every advantage.
“We’ve had some good results there but it has never been any other than tight. We’ll have our work cut out against a team that is improving and going the right way under John Hughes.
“Jonny Hayes will be back and we’re hoping we can get Mark Reynolds back before the game against Ross County in a couple of weeks.
“Jonny coming back is a huge bonus. He felt a lot of frustration not being available and hopefully that frustration comes out in his performance at Inverness. His ability, energy and drive is important for us.”