A line in the sand moment. After weeks of speculation and a heavily publicised pursuit, Derek McInnes decided he would not be joining Rangers and would remain Aberdeen manager.

There was little he could do to stop the news cycle with his name book-ending sports talk shows and headlining newspaper columns.

But McInnes, speaking from Aberdeen’s training base in Dubai yesterday, insists he has no regrets over turning down the chance to return to Ibrox where he spent five years as a player.

Rangers finally made their approach to speak to McInnes on December 5 – with the Dons immediately rejecting the approach from the Light Blues.

But that sparked a tumultuous week at Pittodrie, with McInnes and his assistant, Tony Docherty, missing training on the two days that followed as they weighed up the biggest decision of their careers.

Instead, it was left to Paul Sheerin and Barry Robson to take charge of the Dons squad ahead of their Friday fixture against Dundee at Dens Park.

The night before the match, the news finally broke that McInnes had decided to remain with the Dons and it was business as usual at Pittodrie.

McInnes said getting back to the day job with Aberdeen was his biggest relief and admitted he found it difficult to cope with the scrutiny. He said: “I felt as though it was just good to get back to concentrating on a game and back to the work.

“You expect to be judged on your game, and comment on your game, good or bad. So, when all the scrutiny and the comments are made outwith game time it’s stuff you can’t really affect, but what you can affect is making sure we won that game. It was an important result for us all.

“Obviously, we had a game to prepare for the next day. I was trying to concentrate on that, that was my focus, it was such an important game to just go and win. I was really just trying to focus on that, on Dundee.

“It’s what we’re paid to do, really. It didn’t sit well, missing training, but it was the right thing to do at the time. I was really keen to get back into it with the players.”

It was one of the stranger episodes in Scottish football, with McInnes linked heavily for the role for weeks without Rangers making an approach. When it came it was swiftly knocked back by chairman Stewart Milne, before McInnes took a couple of days away with his family to discuss his options.

Re-emerging for training on the Friday morning ahead of the game brought a semblance of normality after a hectic, testing few weeks.

McInnes said: “When the players came in on the Friday morning it was good to see them and to get in about them because we are really close.

“Myself and the players, I feel we have a strong bond. One or two of them were really pleased we stayed and maybe one or two were not so pleased. No, only joking.

“I think you manifest things and you create an environment where you are happy.

“Everyone has a part to play in that.

“It has been a good period. We would like to have won more trophies up until now but people will look back on this period as a good time for the club and we are all enjoying it here.”

Some managers would have been worried about the reaction from the supporters, after taking a couple of days to mull over a job offer from the club’s fierce rivals.

But McInnes was not – and he received a warm reception from the Dons supporters who descended on Dens Park to witness their team win after disappointing back-to-back defeats by the Gers.

McInnes said: “I think they just needed to see their team winning again. It’s like any support when your team’s not been winning and you’ve had a couple of indifferent results and performances.

“As long as your team is winning supporters are normally really forgiving.

“It was about trying to win the game. The supporters had been through the wringer a wee bit. There was maybe a final line there and then it was ‘right let’s get on with what we’ve been doing for the next four-and-a-half years’.”

He also defended his team against accusations that they do not perform in enough big games, feeling it only gets brought up when the Dons lose against Celtic or Rangers, rather than when they are victorious.

He added: “We beat Rangers twice last year, up until last season we had beaten Celtic at some point in every season.

“Our big games are still Hibs and Hearts and we’ve always done well against them over the years. It’s something that’s sometimes thrown at us but we won two semi-finals last year – I’d say they were big games when Aberdeen used to be criticised for not dealing with semi-finals. When you lose a big game, it’s an easy thing to throw at us. Ideally, we would like to win more of them but we do win our fair share.”