Aberdeen chairman Dave Cormack has rejected claims his expectations were too high following the departure of Derek McInnes

McInnes led Aberdeen to League Cup success in 2014 in his first full season in charge and also reached three more cup finals and five further semi-finals.

The Dons finished runners-up to Celtic four years running, twice when Rangers were in the top flight, and were never out the top four.

But Cormack felt his reign had run its course after a run of one goal in nine matches.

Cormack told Red TV: “Some of the criticism from some of the media pundits and ex-players, criticism of me and of fans for expecting too much… There’s a lot I would like to say but I will hold my tongue and rise above it.

“What I will say to those people is this: is it wrong of Aberdeen fans to want more than one trophy in 26 years?”

Cormack also paid tribute to McInnes and assistant Tony Docherty for ending the “wilderness” years.

“Derek is someone I have a tremendous amount of time for,” he said. “It has been well documented the performances, the results, and the lack of goals since the beginning of January in particular, have not been what we wanted.

“I remember a conversation I had with Derek six to eight weeks ago when he said, because the chairman-manager relationship is critical, if you ever get to the stage where you think I have run my time at Aberdeen, I want you to be honest with me.

“So, on Monday last week I had that conversation with him. It was my judgement that it was time for a change.

“We had a very constructive conversation around the timing, and I explained to Derek that I did not want to wait until the summer where there are so many players out of contract.

“We felt the timing was right to give a new manager time to get things right for next season.

“Derek leaves a tremendous legacy. From the 1990s up until 2013 when Derek and Tony arrived, we for much of that time were in the wilderness.

“Like many clubs, Aberdeen speculated from the potential TV money in the 90s and built up debt of close to £15million.

“Derek and Tony came in and took the club from being perennial bottom-six players and dragged us back onto its feet and put in a level of professionalism right across the board.

“Derek’s legacy is being one of the most consistent managers in the history of this club, with top-six finishes, with European football every year and of course the 2014 League Cup win. So, Derek will be a tough act to follow.”