Rangers' Struggles Under McInnes: A Rocky Start in Europe
Derek McInnes walked into Ibrox knowing the numbers. Now he’s living them.
Barring caretakers, no Rangers manager had started worse after three games. After Thursday night, that grim little statistic has stretched to four – and it played out to the sight of home fans streaming for the exits long before the final whistle.
They still had hope of a late goal to drag the Europa League third qualifying round tie with Jagiellonia Bialystok into extra time. The stands told a different story. Belief has drained quicker than the clock.
A 1-1 draw on the night, a 3-2 defeat on aggregate, and Rangers tumble out of the Europa League before the play-off round. They drop into a Conference League play-off against Jablonec instead. For a club that sells itself on Champions League nights and Europa League runs, that feels a long way down.
A club built for Europe, a team that isn’t
McInnes did not sugar-coat it.
"The club is built for the Champions League and Europa League, but I don't think the team is ready for it and it pains me to say it," he admitted afterwards. Money has been spent – nine signings already this summer, several for significant fees – yet the manager’s verdict was blunt: still not enough quality, still not enough belief.
"We need to get more quality, we need to get more confidence into the team," he said. "That is the job I came into Rangers to do. Rangers finishing third last season, what was served up wasn't good enough. We have to get things moving in the right way quickly."
The word “quickly” now hangs over everything.
A year ago, Russell Martin’s reign unravelled almost from the start. He never recovered from his own stumbling opening and was gone by early October. McInnes was supposed to be the safer pair of hands, the proven domestic operator who could steady Rangers and then push them forward.
Instead, four games into his tenure, the questions have already started. Is he under pressure? Of course he is. This is Ibrox. This is a support that watched Celtic lift another title last season and saw their own club finish third. Patience is not a natural resource here.
McInnes pointed to a pattern he believes has carried over from the end of last season – a team unable to put together a complete 90 minutes.
"In the four games we've had, there's been some good moments, but it's not been good enough and certainly not a strong enough 90-minute performance," he said. "It is not great to watch. My team go from some good highs in the first half to being as poor as we were in the second half and you have to say we didn't do enough."
On Thursday, that swing was brutal. Rangers started with purpose. By the end, they were being booed off.
"I think it was justified, to be honest," McInnes conceded. "What we served up in the second half was not good enough."
The switch that broke Rangers’ grip
The turning point came just after the break. McInnes hooked Thelo Aasgaard, sent on full-back Ross McCrorie and shifted from a back three to a back four. The idea, he explained, was to get his wingers higher, to inject more thrust out wide because Norway midfielder Aasgaard was "not getting involved enough".
On the tactics board, it made sense. On the pitch, it unravelled.
Former Rangers midfielder Andy Halliday, watching on for BBC Radio Scotland’s Sportsound, didn’t disguise his verdict.
"The reasoning makes sense, but it didn't work, it's as simple as that," he said. "The only thing I would challenge about that is I thought [Djeidi] Gassama and [Daisuke] Yokota got loads of the ball relatively high up in the first half.
"They lost all control without that extra body in midfield."
Jagiellonia grew. Rangers shrank. The energy, the passing lanes, the tempo – all slipped away from the home side. The boos at full-time were not about one bad night in Europe. They were about a familiar feeling returning far too soon.
McInnes was generous about the opposition. "Jagiellonia are a decent team with some good players and I think they're well coached," he said, before adding the line that will sting his own dressing room. "But Rangers at their best should be winning this."
They weren’t at their best. They haven’t been at their best for a long time.
Injuries, imbalance and a frantic window
The defeat came at the end of a grim week. Youssef Chermiti, the 22-year-old striker Rangers had just turned down a big-money bid for, was ruled out with a long-term knee injury. The club protected their asset, then lost him to the treatment room.
It has forced a change of plan. Rangers already needed wingers and defenders. Now they need a striker too. McInnes says they are "working so hard to get the necessary type of players", with PSV Eindhoven winger Couhaib Driouech expected to be the next through the door.
The problem is not just quality. It’s balance. Halliday looked at the squad and saw a jigsaw with half the pieces missing.
He argued they still require "three centre-halves, one left-back, two, arguably, three wingers" before the window shuts. That is a staggering shopping list for mid-August.
Yet he also cut through one of the main excuses being floated around the stands.
"The current squad that's available should be enough to beat Dundee United, it should be enough to beat Hibs and, to be honest, it should be enough to beat Jagiellonia Bialystok," he said.
That’s the crux. Even with gaps in the squad, Rangers should not look this fragile against that level of opposition. Not at home. Not with that budget. Not with that support.
Shankland and the weight of the armband
Rangers hoped that reuniting McInnes with Lawrence Shankland would be the quick fix. The pair came within touching distance of wrenching the title away from Celtic at Hearts last season. The logic was clear: bring them together again, hand Shankland the captain’s armband, and let the goals and leadership flow.
So far, it has not played out like that.
Former Rangers striker Steven Thompson believes Shankland is already feeling the strain.
"It's the weight of playing for Rangers, the weight of not having the start that he wanted, and the weight of taking a bad touch," Thompson said.
"At previous clubs, if you take a bad touch and give it away, you might get a few pelters. Here tonight, when Lawrence Shankland's link-up play wasn't that good or he should've had a shot when he didn't, they are on you and it is going to take him a bit to get used to that I think. It's not physical, it's mental."
Shankland has not been awful. But at Rangers, being “not awful” is nowhere near enough for your captain and marquee forward. Every miscontrol, every delayed shot, every wrong option feeds the unease in the stands.
When the team is misfiring, the armband gets heavier. Shankland is learning that in real time.
A fanbase split – and seething
Outside the dressing room, the noise is deafening and divided.
Simon has already seen enough. "I wanted to give a manager time, but I'd cut my losses and get rid of McInnes now," he said. "Never thought he was the man for this job - and he's proving me right, big time. Spending a fortune and making us much worse."
Alan was just as blunt. "No more excuses. McInnes is proving that he is not up to the job."
Kris added a stinging line about the mood at full-time: "Has McInnes had a match for Rangers yet where his side haven't been booed off the park?"
Alex looked further ahead and didn’t like what he saw. "I foresee another trophyless season ahead for Rangers - no cohesion, no fight, no skill, nothing. Rangers are woeful."
Even the comparisons are damning. "Rangers look as a bad as they did under Mark Warburton in the Championship," Kevin said. "In fact, that team would thump this one."
Not everyone wants the trapdoor opened yet. Jonny urged a pause.
"Folk saying McInnes should be sacked need to calm down. Look at the squad. Who would do well with it? Give the man time. He'll sort us in time."
Time. The one commodity that feels in shortest supply at a club that has already burned through managers and seasons chasing Celtic’s shadow.
Where do Rangers go from here?
Strip it back and the picture is stark. A team that cannot put together a full performance. A manager already talking about a lack of quality after nine signings. A squad that analysts say still needs a raft of reinforcements. A captain struggling to shoulder the expectation. A support that has gone from wary to mutinous in a matter of weeks.
Rangers now stare at a Conference League play-off, domestic fixtures that suddenly look dangerous, and a transfer window that has to be near-perfect from here.
McInnes says he came to fix what "wasn't good enough" last season. Four games in, the question is unavoidable: can he turn this around quickly enough, or is Ibrox about to live through another season written off before it has even found its stride?
