Rangers chief executive Jim Gillespie compared McInnes’ management style to Jurgen Klopp, which is why the former Hearts boss was hired.
The former Hearts boss, who came to Ibrox after almost guiding Hearts to their first league title since 1960 but losing out to Celtic on the final day, was compared to one of Europe’s top managers, Jurgen Klopp.
The Rangers boss was brought in to replace Danny Röhl, who left for Austria, but hasn’t had the best start to his Rangers career: three games played, yet to register a single win, and most recently losing late on at home to Hibs on Sunday.
During a stakeholders’ meeting, the Rangers chief executive answered a question regarding the thinking behind hiring McInnes, and compared the new Rangers boss to former Liverpool boss Jurgen Klopp, as well as former Bayern Munich, Barcelona and Manchester City boss Pep Guardiola.
He said: “It’s very simple. There are two different types of managers – you get a Klopp-type manager and you get a Guardiola-type manager.
“I think in terms of Rangers’ game model and what fans’ expectations are, we wanted a Klopp-type manager who was on the front foot, played aggressive football, created chances and scored goals.
“Derek McInnes is a Klopp-style manager. Underneath that is the structure that he wants to play, the conversations about how successful he has been.
“He is just off the back of a great season at Hearts, and the character the Hearts team showed and some of the characteristics that he has, his Scottish experience – he has managed over 500 games, I think.”
Gillespie revealed McInnes had been spoken about well before the end of the season, while Röhl was still in post, as part of ongoing ‘contingency’ planning.
“We have always got a list of managers who we believe fit our squad and game model,” he said.
“When the managerial appointment came about, there was only one name that ticked all the boxes for us to go and get, and it was Derek.
“We have strong beliefs – I know we have had difficult results – that Derek will bring success to the club.
“It wasn’t just ‘get Derek McInnes’. In April, when we were away in Spain, we were talking about managers, because you just don’t know when – if you’re playing really well, someone will come in and take them, and if you’re doing really badly, you have to make a change.
“So you always have to have the contingency, and Derek McInnes was high on the list for a long time.
“You always like to see the whites of people’s eyes, because that tells you if they have the passion, and we had lots of conversations around that.
“Although it took a week, in a sense it could have taken a day. But we wanted to make sure, and Derek, to be fair, had a lot of questions he wanted to have answered as well.
“No one gets a free ride. You don’t get a job at Rangers unless you’ve gone through a thorough process, and we believe we have the right person for that role.”