McInnes on his Hearts 'guilt', title grievance & Rangers momentum

McInnes accepts he may not get the reception at Tynecastle he'd like night and admits to feelings of "guilt" about leaving in the summer when the club was still in "mourning" about coming so close to winning the title.

He adds: "I loved my time at Hearts, I need to say that. It was only a short time, but I thought my Hearts team were a breath of fresh air for Scottish football last season. I really enjoyed what we managed to achieve. It shows what can be done despite not having the huge financial muscle of Rangers and Celtic to compete with and I was proud of what we did there."

McInnes admits he totally understands fans will feel the same way about his departure as he felt when his captain, Lawrence Shankland, swapped Tynecastle for Ibrox.

McInnes says that left him feeling "flat" after what Hearts had just gone through, especially as the whole club was still trying to process how close they'd come to a first top-flight title in 66 years.

He insists there's still a justifiable sense of "grievance" about the title near miss and maintains that "but for a few contentious decisions" Hearts would have won the league.

The Rangers manager points to the result, and performance, at Celtic Park a few weeks ago as evidence his side can do what no team has done since April 2025 (in a game settled in 90 minutes) and beat Hearts at Tynecastle.

McInnes describes Hearts away as "a test for my team, but I think we're ready for it".

He wants his players to focus on the game rather than the atmosphere and is confident they have the quality to keep up their recent momentum.

He adds: "Hearts have such a real strong squad. That's a home record to be proud of. We understand it's going to be a difficult game. Tynecastle is a brilliant atmosphere, it can be ferocious at times, it can be so passionate. You've got to deal with that side of it. But you've also got to be confident enough to deal with the game."