In a surprising development, chairman Andrew Cavenagh outlined a fresh trajectory for Rangers as recently as mid-May. This marked yet another twist in the turbulent journey of the club, which has been riddled with setbacks and missteps.
The revamped transfer strategy is now distinctly favoring players with a ‘pro-Scottish bias.’ This shift comes as the idea of appointing a single sporting director—famously dubbed ‘The Kevin Thelwell Effect’—seems to cause unease. Consequently, the club is opting for a broader, albeit somewhat ambiguous, collective approach to player recruitment.
The recruitment strategy is a team effort involving technical director Dan Purdy, performance director Stig-Inge Bjornebye, and the manager. Also in the mix are CEO Jim Gillespie and Andrew Cavenagh himself, alongside Gretar Steinsson from 49ers Enterprises. In this fluid arrangement, even figures as unexpected as the long-forgotten facepainter and the visiting postie seem to play a role.
Among the new arrivals is Tochi Chukwuani, who joined the team for a fee of £4.3 million. However, there’s skepticism about his long-term prospects within Derek McInnes’ preferred starting lineup.
Additionally, Danny Rohl, the head coach, received strong support from Cavenagh during a recent state-of-the-nation speech. However, when Red Bull Salzburg made an irresistible offer, Rangers eagerly accepted, leaving no part, from arm to earlobe, off the negotiation table. It was undoubtedly an astute decision.
Rangers chairman had outlined his vision for Rangers but fans are still searching for signs of it
Rohl was a nice bloke. He might yet make it at a place with more relaxed demands.
However, in an interesting and long-running interview following his move to Austria – reminiscent of a Viking saga, only more exhaustive and with no heroes – his answers left the impression that even he knew he wasn’t ready for a job of that nature. Which begs the question why those running the show at Rangers felt otherwise.
He inherited a mess from Russell Martin and didn’t really manage to achieve much other than rearrange the rubble at further, considerable cost.
Now, it’s McInnes left to pick up the pieces and try to build a solid base and it certainly hasn’t started well. The Ibrox side have not been good in drawing at Dundee United and then going down 2-1 to an ordinary Jagiellonia Bialystok in the first leg of Europa League qualifying on Thursday.
McInnes, naturally, has to take ownership of that no matter how early this is in his reign. Failing to make the group stage of the Europa League would be a disaster when the play-off round, providing this tie is safely negotiated at Ibrox next week, has either Larne or Iberia Tbilisi waiting as opposition.
One positive, though, is that the new boss hasn’t tried to dress up the substandard nature of what’s been produced. Calling out what was served up against Jagiellonia as similar to the stuff Rangers churned out last season, after all, is about as critical as critical can be.
Post-United, McInnes also called on the recruitment team to start bringing in the players he needs. Daisuke Yokota quickly arrived, but there’s a lot more still required if this squad is going to be equipped to compete on all fronts.
The 2-1 defeat to Jagiellonia Bialystok has put Rangers in a perilous European position
The problem is that it’s hard to see how the things Cavenagh promised in May are manifesting themselves. It’s hard to see a strategy. And going by some of the performances and the body language in Poland, a real concern over the wider culture.
Certainly, the ‘chemistry’, ‘leadership’, ‘steel’ and ‘footballing IQ’ he spoke of as essentials in a rebuilt side were nowhere present on Thursday. Giving up the ball too easily at one end of the park and being unable to hold it together at the other were just some of the flaws McInnes identified.
For a club that was suddenly going to be built on a Scottish core – a policy that appeared to be reinforced by the appointment of the former Hearts gaffer – transfer business so far hasn’t backed that up.
Of nine signings, only Ross McCrorie and Lawrence Shankland are Scots. McCrorie is no more than a squad player while it is hard to shake the view Shankland, poor at a higher level with Scotland in the World Cup and left out of the Jagiellonia first leg, is in danger of becoming a captain who won’t be selected for bigger European fixtures.
Cammy Devlin, being kind, does have SPFL experience. Yet, the newer names mentioned as transfer targets are the likes of Couhaib Driouech of PSV and Jahnoah Markelo of Coventry, who didn’t exactly spend their formative years booting the ball around Troon beach.
‘We have a pro-Scottish bias in the club today,’ stated Cavenagh. ‘Meaning, if you have two players roughly equal and one is Scottish, we will take the Scottish player.’
Look, this could all change if Rangers do make a proper statement along the lines of bringing in Lewis Ferguson from Bologna, no matter how unlikely that seems. It’s just not following that trajectory at the moment and it must be alarming for Ibrox followers that the first two games of the season have seen different starting line-ups feature seven of the losers that bottled it last season.
Derek McInnes has been unable to shake Rangers away from some of last season’s failings
They are not to be trusted. Not Nico Raskin. Not Thelo Aasgaard. And not Manny Fernandez, whose atrocious defending in all three goals conceded so far this term has made a mockery of the know-it-alls who had him down as the next Beckenbauer not so long ago.
Since last summer, Rangers have spent circa £70m gross on players. One look through their European squad is all it takes to hammer home the insanity of it all. It also speaks to a club that doesn’t seem to know what it wants from the market.
Of course, all hope is not lost. If Celtic are fielding £25m offers for Arne Engels, it is clear a good agent and a strong highlights reel can attract interest. Rangers had Nico Raskin and Thelo Aasgaard at the World Cup. Fernandez now plays with Nigeria and Youssef Chermiti still, somehow, has his admirers.
They are all expendable. Raskin’s lack of involvement suggests he is for the off. The other three are just part of a wider issue in the dressing room. They’re inconsistent. They turn it off and on. Sometimes, they barely look interested.
It is symptomatic of the squad. Mohamed Diomande is just becoming tiresome. Chukwuani has had little impact. Even Tuur Rommens, who did make an impression after arriving in January, looks like he’s caught the infection.
McInnes’ appointment seemed an obvious one, even though his coaching ID is different from that of Rohl and Martin. He organises and galvanises teams, making them hard to beat. His Rangers side right now is nothing like that.
Olwethu Makhanya and Vanja Dragojevic have yet to get going, but more signings must be made as others get punted to raise funds. Full-backs are needed, as is at least one more central defender. There needs to be more yet in attacking positions too. More pace. More creativity. More attitude.
Japanese winger Daisuke Yokota has arrived and other foreign buys look likely to follow
With serious questions over the signing strategy laid out by Cavenagh and infinitely larger concerns over the mentality of players who have served up nothing other than failure, McInnes has a huge task on his hands in trying to synchronise the workings of those above him with the squad he is expected to win the title with.
He represented a change. A Rangers man. A pragmatist. Someone who ‘gets it’.
Yet, it feels like he’s landed in the driving seat of a juggernaut almost incapable of getting itself moving in the right direction.
For all his experience, he’ll never have had a test of his coaching, man-management and manipulation of those above him in the food chain quite like this. And there’s only three-and-a-bit weeks before the window shuts to sort it out.
Not good when the chairman’s squadbuilding blueprint looks like it’s gone for a Burton and so many of the players in place look full of the lazyitis and the same old costly, destructive mistakes.