Gary Megson has never seen the photograph of a deadpan Derek McInnes, surrounded by sullen team-mates, after West Brom’s famous 2002 promotion to the Premier League.
Megson suspects nothing did come of what was effectively an unusable snapshot of a squad protesting against their own board.
This was the curious dynamic that accompanied the stunning achievement of overhauling an 11-point gap on bitter rivals Wolves and ending a 17-year top flight exile.
Forty-eight hours earlier, Megson had conjured a managerial masterstroke just before his squad took the field against Crystal Palace.
With promotion on the line, he tipped off players’ families to enter the dressing room.
The message he delivered? Do it for them.
Gary Megson always knew Derek McInnes was cut out for management
Fuelled by runaway emotion from that team talk devoid of a tactical word, McInnes captained the Baggies to a barnstorming 2-0 victory.
Yet a disconnect between the football department and hierarchy meant the club didn’t provide any bubbly for promotion day.
Megson recalled: ‘There were lots of things going on behind the scenes.
‘The board wanted to run the club in a different way and I couldn’t understand it. They weren’t happy – even though we got promoted! There was no champagne laid on by the club.
‘It was ridiculous; a real dampener, as if we’d done something wrong. When the players came back in on the Monday, the board decided they wanted a photo with the team.
‘They wanted their part of it, which was typical. Players got their strips on, then got wind of who was coming on the photos. Derek came to see me to say: We’re not doing it.
‘I fully understood; I’d be the same myself. But I said each one who doesn’t do it will be fined two weeks wages. Derek then said: Right, we’re doing the photo but we’re not smiling.
Derek McInnes captained West Brom to promotion to the Premier League back in 2002
‘They did it under sufferance and ALL refused to smile! To this day, I’ve never seen that photo. It never made it.
‘I hope if Hearts manage to stay top in Scotland, they know how to celebrate – I’m sure they will!’
Megson knows there will be no surly looks on Hearts faces if McInnes scales the peak of his managerial career next month.
Through 18-and-a-half years, Megson has been a fascinated viewer of McInnes’s work in the dugout.
The pair forged a strong manager-captain bond at The Hawthorns, a relationship that has endured to this day.
Megson’s trick with the families is just one of many lessons McInnes learned from a mentor figure.
Given that Walter Smith was the midfielder’s Rangers boss, you could say McInnes was spoiled in the managerial role model department.
Megson adored McInnes from the moment he started mucking in at Stockport on loan from Ibrox in Dick Advocaat’s reign.
He couldn’t believe his luck having a Nine-In-A-Row star, on comeback from injury, making such a huge impression on everyone at Edgeley Park.
If he ever landed at a bigger club job, Megson resolved to make McInnes the leader of his team.
By then, in 2000, McInnes was savouring the lifestyle in southwest France.
Gary Megson worked with McInnes at Stockport and then West Brom
‘Stockport and Rangers must have been two different worlds for him,’ recalled Megson. But he just got on with it. He’s got a good personality aside from football, of just being a decent bloke.
‘He got stuck into it and did ever so well for us. Stockport could never sign him permanently. But when I got the West Brom opportunity, we HAD to get it done.
‘He was someone for teammates to look up to. Because everything he did was proper. He was good around the staff and popular with supporters. No heirs or graces.
‘He already knew he was dropping wages from Toulouse to come to us, but it was more than that. He was owed money as part of it. To his immense credit, he sorted it himself and wrote it off. It didn’t suit Derek financially but he just got on it and saw the opportunity of football. I don’t think many would’ve done that.’
McInnes suffered a cruciate knee injury in October before West Brom went on to reach the playoffs.
During his time on the sidelines, part of his rehab was spent watching games for the gaffer. Back fully fit for the following season, McInnes was an outstanding contributor to automatic promotion.
Hallmarks of the team, built from the division’s 17th highest budget, were discipline, determination and fitness. McInnes has spoken of Megson ‘rinsing every bit out of us’ and ‘getting players to perform better than they actually were’.
Many of McInnes’s players over the years may be familiar with this theme.
In promotion at St Johnstone, constant high rank finishes and cup finals with Aberdeen, taking Kilmarnock into Europe. And, now, sitting five games away from breaking the Old Firm’s 40-year stranglehold on the Scottish title.
Achieve immortality with Hearts and West Brom will surely feel they’ve missed the boat.
Megson said: ‘It’s crazy that all the different West Brom chairmen over the years have taken foreign managers, younger managers, older managers.
‘Derek must have been mentioned at some stage. He was captain in the team that got promoted, was really popular, knew his stuff, had done his time at other clubs.
‘He’d a year and a bit at Bristol City but that maybe came a bit early for him. Supporters say to me: We should’ve got Derek. Well, yeah, it should’ve happened a long time ago!
Hearts take on city rivals Hibs on Sunday as they continue their title bid
‘Derek doing so well as a manager isn’t a surprise to me. I always saw him as one, even when he played.’
Hearts head for Easter Road today, seeking to avenge a 3-2 derby defeat at Christmas and remain in the title race lead.
Their bid has been aided by botched appointments on either side of the Old Firm.
The short and shambolic tenures of idealist coaches Russell Martin and Wilfried Nancy caused precious points to be passed up.
All the while, Hearts were relentless and have kept their heads in front despite multiple high-profile injuries. Megson believes Hearts securing a proper, proven manager to dovetail with Tony Bloom’s data-driven recruitment model was so shrewd.
‘I despair at young managers saying: I’m going to do this, that and won’t forsake my principles,’ said Megson, 66.
Tony Bloom’s Jamestown data analytics have helped drive Hearts bid for success
‘Well, you’ve got to be at a really big club with loads of money to be able to say: I’m not changing.
‘You’ve got to win football matches, which is what Derek does. He’s been so good adapting to circumstances around him at each club.
‘That’s an art. I’m certainly keeping an eye on Scotland’s title race. It’s great for the club, really good for Derek and for neutrals in Scotland. But I know Celtic and Rangers will push all the way to win it.
‘Hearts deserve great credit. They knew what Derek could do and they’ve been good for each other. Tony Bloom, because he’s a bright guy, didn’t go in and tip the boat upside down.
‘Hearts play how I would expect them to with Derek. Honest, hard-working, good players who want to get the ball back quickly and to score every time they get possession.
‘You won’t last very long if all you’re doing is passing the ball.
‘You’ve got to do it with purpose, be penetrating, get crosses in, be well-schooled on set pieces. Derek’s teams have all that – and the biggest thing he’ll always say is ‘workrate’.
‘Fingers crossed, Hearts will get over the line.’
