DEREK McINNES used to get so much time off in the summer as player he took a job in the Post Office.

Now he reckons he would hardly have time to send a postcard between one season and the next.

3 McInnes wants to see Dons playing domestically in the summer Credit: News Group Newspapers Ltd

With Scottish football’s coefficient plummeting, our sides face European qualifiers barely a month after the Scottish Cup Final.

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That has Aberdeen boss McInnes joining in the calls for the SPFL to introduce summer football.

McInnes hopes to keep the Dons on course for that final when they travel to face Ross County today, even though it will mean hardly any time off in the summer.

The former Rangers and Morton midfielder, who was used to two-and-a-half months off when he played, said: “I think we are probably playing summer football at the minute, although not domestically.

“We played a competitive game in every month of 2016.

“There doesn’t seem to be any let-up in the calendar to try and get some proper rest.

“You could argue all day about the benefits of summer football for our country and I think at some point we need to have a go at it.

“How difficult that is going to be to actually administer and do I don’t know, but I think we are working towards that at the minute.

“We’re playing right through anyway but I think it would help Scottish clubs.

“Look at how well Dundalk from the Irish league have done in Europe. I certainly think having summer football helped them and I think it would help us, but I’m not sure how keen everybody is to make that happen.

“The break now for us is about 15 or 16 days.

“My first few seasons at Morton we were off for two-and-a-half months so I went and got a job in the Post Office to try and get some extra money.

3 Dons faced likes of Fola Esch in European qualifiers in summer Credit: Getty Images

“You were looking for extra work in the summer for something to do, now you’ve no time to do anything. The news about the coefficient was kind of expected but it is still disappointing.

“It’s only our performances as clubs that can alter that.

“We know the consequence of qualifying for Europe is those early starts and it’s going to be more challenging for all the clubs because they can be problematic, even though they are the early rounds.

“We’ve done quite well to get through some early rounds but we’ve still fell short of the group stage.

“The winter break was so important for us as a team and as a club.

“I see our pitch suffering a wee bit as well as it has not had more than four weeks without a game on it.

“It all becomes challenging in a lot of aspects — physically and even on other areas of the club.

“When the fixtures come out you always look for when the Scottish Cup Final date is.

“Up until last year, if you won the Scottish Cup you sometimes got an extra week or two off and that’s no longer the case.

“We still want to get to the final and to be in Europe so it will make it interesting to see exactly how it goes.

“You need to get the balance of getting rest but also to prepare for the next round.

“If you lose that early round as some Scottish clubs have, it sets you back and you’re up against it right away before you’re even up and running properly for the season. We’ve not had a proper pre-season for the players in the last two or three years.

“Preparation in the close season is totally different to how it was in the past.”

Aberdeen have not lifted the Scottish Cup since 1990 but McInnes insists the weight of history is not a burden for his players.

3 Aberdeen will have to navigate past Ross County to keep their Cup dreams alive Credit: News Group Newspapers Ltd

He said: “It doesn’t increase any pressure — if it does we certainly don’t feel it.

“We’ve put ourselves in a category of a number of clubs who at the start of the season would have put themselves up there to try and win a cup.

“Obviously Celtic are going to win the league and do it with a bit to spare.

“However, we still feel that we’ve got plenty to achieve, both in the Cup and in the league.

“We’ve got our hands full to try and finish second. We’ve got to show that we’re good enough to do that.

“Unlike in the league where you can have a poor afternoon and recover, the Cup is just all about getting through.

“Ideally we’d like a strong performance but if the performance is poor and we get through then that is all that matters.

“You’re either in the Cup or out of it and we’ve got to make sure we’re in it.”

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