McInnes confident of a better Premiership season ahead for Kilmarnock

Derek McInnes is confident that Kilmarnock will have a better season in the upcoming Premiership campaign after a disappointing tenth place finish last time around.

The Rugby Park side finished only a place above Ross County in the relegation playoff spot in their first season back in the top-flight.

But the manager is now looking for a more enjoyable year and is convinced his squad will be better placed to take on the challenge this time.

And he believes hitting the 40 point mark as soon as possible will help in easing the pressure and give them more freedom to implement their style.

The former Aberdeen manager, who took the Pittodrie side to consecutive second placed finishes in his time there, was speaking on Thursday as he prepares the Ayrshire club for another assault at the top table.

He said: “We want to try and enjoy this season a lot more, there was a couple of good moments last year, a couple of decent cup runs and the type of form we showed in the last 9/10 games is the type of form we want to show more often.

“We got to 40 points, which was more than I thought we needed, but we wanted to get to 40 points as quick as possible and the fact we never reached it until the last day of the season indicates that we can improve and we want to try and get to 40 points, firstly and foremost, as quickly as possible.

“I do believe that this season provides a certain opportunity, I said last season that if we could stay up then we could move on as a club.

“From our starting point last year we were way back from every other club in the Premiership and this season, while it is quite daunting in terms of what needs to be done in reshaping the squad, I also think it’s quite exciting and gives us a better opportunity.

“With that opportunity there is a lot of decisions to be made and we want to try and get as many of those decisions right as possible.

“The difference between this time this year and last year is that we have a head of recruitment, we have a recruitment team in place and we have already done some good work.

“We have managed to make an inroad in some signings already and get the shape of the squad moving, we have still got some work to do but we’ve got to be happy with the work that’s been done so far.

“And I am confident that, if we get everything in place that we want, then we can make a much better fist of things this season.”