Speaking to the media ahead of the game, McInnes said ahead of his return: “Well, the hope would be that you get onto the pitch and clap the fans and there’s an acknowledgement each way… but that is not going to happen.

“I totally understand it though. I loved my time at Hearts, I need to say that. It was only a short time but I thought my Hearts team were a breath of fresh air for Scottish football.

“I totally enjoyed what we managed to achieve. It shows what can be done despite not having the huge financial muscle of Celtic and Rangers to compete with. Taking a team which finished in the bottom six and getting it to 80 points. And it just felt like such an injustice at the end of it all.

“I understand that it’s not going to be great for me tomorrow, but I get it. My view on it is that at Hearts we were hurting. It was almost as if you were in mourning. That seems a bit exaggerated, but it was almost how it felt.

“We were all clinging to each other in that first part of the close season. And it’s a time I felt we should all be sticking together. So I kind of feel the guilt about whether I stayed or whether I left.

“Chewing the fat about the season and next season and going over the whole post-mortem, when we got the call that Lawrence wanted to go to Rangers I remember how I felt then. How I felt a bit let down, a bit flat with the whole thing.

“Then for me to make the similar move a couple of weeks later… I totally understand that. I totally get it if the treatment I get tomorrow is what it is, and you could say maybe I deserve it, but nothing will change how I felt about my time at Hearts.

“We had a brilliant season there, my players were outstanding, and there was a real injustice, we felt that grievance towards the end of the season, that we didn’t win the title.

“I wanted to be a manager winning a title outwith the Old Firm and if it weren’t for a few contentious decisions going against us, I think we would have won it.”