Manager of month McInnes hopes squad time pays off ABERDEEN boss Derek McInnes hopes his hands-on approach will help steer the Reds towards success this season. The Pittodrie boss was named SPFL manager of the month for September after guiding the side to four games without loss. The confidence of the run was dented slightly by Saturday's 1-0 defeat to Ross County in Dingwall but they still sit fourth in the Scottish Premiership table with 14 points. McInnes puts much of his success since replacing Craig Brown at the tail end of last season down to the closeness he has built up with his squad. He said: "The manager's job is so demanding in so many different aspects but your time with the players is the most important part. The way that Tony Docherty and I work is to try and ensure we get a closeness and a bond with the players. To make sure that when the boys come to their work, they enjoy it. It is important that the players get to know us and that we get to know them too. You can't be best buddies with them, but you can be close with them. We have got that at the minute. We have got a lot of good players at the club and a lot who have still to maximise their potential. It's important that Tony and I get that out of them. It's only by getting that maximum performance out of them that we will get consistent results. But the former St Johnstone and Bristol City manager claims he has been careful not to get too close to his players, insisting: "I like to be close with them but there is a line and the players know that." The increased optimism around the club has seen the club add more than 4,000 fans to its average attendance from last year and McInnes believes the Red Army's desperation for success can only help him bring back the glory days. McInnes said: "That's the benefit of working for such a good club. I've been so impressed by so much about the club and I do think that what we have got is a fantastic fan base and we have got to use that to our benefit. But to get them on side it is only performances that will work. We have tapped into that but there is still more to come. The potential of the club was the big attraction for me but a lot of managers have said that before at Aberdeen recently. There is no magic wand to make it happen. It takes hard work, getting good players in the building and finding good ways of working. Hopefully, given time, we can satisfy that appetite for success there is up there. Meanwhile, McInnes confirmed striker Josh Magennis will undergo surgery for a knee injury on Wednesday. Magennis has visited a specialist in London and will now have an exploratory operation in a bid to cure the problem that has forced him to pull out of the Northern Ireland squad for their World Cup qualifiers in Azerbaijan and Israel.