Rangers manager Derek McInnes says he still uses notes from his first managerial job at St Johnstone almost two decades ago as he prepares to face the Perth side this weekend.

McInnes was an experienced and well-travelled midfielder at McDiarmid Park when he took the managerial reins in 2007 following Owen Coyle's exit to Burnley.

"I enjoyed my time there, they were good to me," said the 55-year-old.

"I still look at my notes from those days and the fundamentals of being a manager and the core values are the same in terms of what my team needs to look like. The rules and conditions about how the club works on and off the field.

"A lot of things tactically I think I want us to be. Sometimes just a wee check, looking back. There's a notepad I keep that I just add to every now and then.

"Just wee things that keeps me reminded about what's important. Because sometimes you just need that wee reminder.

"Sometimes you've got to evolve and change and players are different now.

"The circumstances are different in terms of the fallout when you lose a game. Everything's magnified now and everybody's got a comment to make. Whereas back then, it was just really about working closely with the players."

McInnes remembers exactly where he was - approaching the Broxden Roundabout just outside Perth - in autumn 2007 when he heard on the radio St Johnstone would be announcing their new manager the following morning.

What McInnes didn't know was that he was the new manager being referred to.

"The chairman hadn't even asked me!" he recalled. "And I did what I was told, to be honest, by (chairman) Geoff Brown.

"It was a shock and a pleasant surprise when he said to me he'd watched me and liked how I commanded respect, how I dealt with players and had contacts in the game and that he thought I was ready for it.

"So it wasn't a job I'd applied for or expected."