Derek McInnes has finally spoken out after his Hearts side fumbled the title to Celtic, with Arne Engels, Daizen Maeda and Callum Osmand, on his return from injury, securing victory for the Hoops on the final day of the season.
The Jambos had been top for 250 days, and all eyes were on the Scottish Premiership. Many were hailing it as a 'fairytale ending' if the Edinburgh side were to win the league, but as we all know, Celtic are inevitable.
Despite McInnes being vocal about the decision to give the Celts a penalty against Motherwell, branding it 'disgusting', and his club saying that the pitch invasion at Parkhead 'embarrassed Scottish football', he avoided any mention of the team he lost the trophy to in his first interview since the defeat.
Speaking after receiving the Football Writers' Manager of the Year award, he reflected on the campaign: "I think in the cold light of day, when we look back, there was so much positivity from where we were at the beginning of the season.
"We always start a season with hope and expectation, and I think we’ve exceeded all of that this season.
"So the intention now is to dust ourselves down and try and enjoy our break and be ready for the challenges ahead. I fully believe that those challenges are going to be met.
"I think the enthusiasm from everybody at the club, the desire to improve and go on and try and be the norm for us to be challenging and try and be competing for trophies on a more regular basis. I firmly believe that those expectations were met.
"So, I think this season has given us so much encouragement, for us to reach 80 points, be involved in Champions League qualifiers coming up in July, club record, as I say, and so many positives from the campaign.
"We’ll look back and enjoy it, but we’ll also have that kind of grievance at times, and that disappointment to try and spur us on to something greater."
Debate over whether McInnes is a deserving winner
There is a lot of debate over whether McInnes should have been given the award or not. There is no doubt that what he has done with Hearts this season has been utterly incredible, but at the end of the day, they have finished the season with no trophies.
Martin O'Neill, however, came back to Celtic in a desperate time of need and could secure them a double. A victory over Neil Lennon's Dunfermline this weekend would bring two trophies to Paradise, so why is he not getting any recognition?
McInnes does deserve recognition, but what O'Neill has done is utterly incredible. His achievement shouldn't be understated.
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