It could be argued that this way of thinking is paradoxical though, as if McInnes was kept in post, continuing on his most recent form, we could have ended up in the bottom six for the next three seasons anyway. I haven't seen anything recently to suggest that McInnes would have been able to turn the team's fortunes around. This is not a dig at McInnes, who up until recently had my backing as a pretty consistent manager. I'm more than resigned to the fact that things will be worse before they get better, but suggesting that critics of McInnes should undergo some form of penitence, if or when this occurs, is a tad harsh.