His break from the game has come sooner than he anticipated but former Aberdeen manager Derek McInnes is in no rush to return to the managerial dugout.
The 49-year-old was planning on leaving Pittodrie at the end of the season, but his departure was brought forward by Dons chairman Dave Cormack on March 9.
Following a brief break, McInnes has been keeping himself occupied with media commitments and, while he would not rule out an early return to management, it is not a short-term aim.
The former Dons boss, speaking on behalf of Scottish Cup broadcasters Premier Sport to promote this weekend’s quarter-finals, said: “I am not looking to go back in now, but no manager, unless you are one of the top, top managers, can plot and plan everything that goes for them.
“My feeling is I want the break. I want to have that time to switch off. Spend some time with the family and friends and then try to move on.
“But like everything else when the right opportunity comes along then it is sometimes difficult to say no to that. It is what we do as managers. You can never plot and plan these things perfectly.
“For me, I am just enjoying doing this side of it. The opportunity to do some TV work has been enjoyable and I am appreciative of that.
“It is nice just to have some down time with the family, try to get the golf handicap down and get ready for my next job.
“It’s important for me to be as fresh and as good as I can be when that next job comes along.
“I am looking forward to that opportunity and the next challenge, but I also recognise for the time being that it’s good to have a switch off and reflect and prepare for that next opportunity.”
He remains philosophical about his departure, but McInnes is in no doubt the club he left behind a month ago is in much stronger shape than the one he inherited.
He said: “I recognised the time to move on. I had said to myself I would move on at the end of the season. That was the plan as I needed that freshness professionally, but Aberdeen clearly wanted to move on in a different direction.
“It is what it is. I move on from Aberdeen, Aberdeen move on from me. Reflecting on my time there I had a fantastic eight years, I really enjoyed my time there and I worked with good people.
“We managed to achieve quite a lot together. The staff were close. We had different squads, different players over the years, but we felt as though we took the club forward.
“The club we inherited to the club it is now is way different. We made Aberdeen competitive again, we made them relevant again.
“Unfortunately we only won one trophy, which is always going to be the biggest regret, but qualifying for Europe every year is an indication of good work being done by everybody at the club. Obviously being manager through that period was thoroughly enjoyable, but we move on.”
- Derek McInnes was promoting exclusively live Premier Sports coverage of Hibernian v Motherwell tomorrow from 4.30pm and Rangers v St Johnstone this Sunday from 6pm. Premier Sports is available on Sky, Virgin TV and the Premier Player. Prices start from £10.99 per month.