Derek McInnes insists his sole focus is on firing Kilmarnock up the table amidst links to the vacant Hearts job.
The 53-year-old has been installed as one of the favourites to replace Steven Naismith but he’s enjoying life in Ayrshire and says he’s taking no notice of the situation at Tynecastle.
McInnes has enjoyed success during his two-and-a-half year stint at Rugby Park, having taken them from the Championship to European football.
Speaking to the media ahead of this weekend’s home Premiership clash with Dundee United, McInnes said: “I actually don’t take any notice of it. My job and focus is here.
“I’m at an age now where, when you get linked with things or your job’s under pressure, people talking about it, I actually don’t really see much merit in dwelling on it.
“My job is fully on Kilmarnock and it’s just about making sure that we are the team I want us to be, being relevant as we were last season, people giving us plenty of plaudits and mixing it and landing a few blows on bigger teams with bigger budgets.
“I believe we can be that team again. I actually think we’ve got the potential to be better than last year and that excites me and hopefully we can start by getting a winning performance again on Saturday.”
Naismith was the second top flight manager to be shown the exit door already this season following Craig Levein’s dismissal from St Johnstone.
McInnes said he was spoken to both men since they lost their jobs and believes both decisions were ‘harsh’ after successful campaigns last term.
He said: “Both rightly had lost of praise for the work they did last season. That can quickly get forgotten about by supporters and I get that. I think in Craig’s situation, a new owner normally means a new manager. I think Craig can feel hard done by, I think he went in and took over a difficult situation and managed to safeguard their Premiership status.
“In Naisy’s case another strong performance last season from Hearts. I just thought maybe at boardroom level he might have got a wee bit more grace and understanding and the benefit of the good season he had last season.
“It’s always disappointing to see managers lose their jobs and I think in those two cases, particularly harsh.”