The swift change in fortunes at Rangers is almost a narrative of tragedy. Not long ago, they were the frontrunners in the league title race, capturing the attention and expectations of many.
Appointed manager Derek McInnes was seen as the key to revitalizing the team’s spirit. He was expected to bring discipline, organization, and a solid foundation to the squad. That was the plan, after all.
Fully aware of the high stakes, McInnes entered with a clear understanding of the challenges within the club’s environment. With his prior knowledge of both the club and the competitive landscape, he seemed poised for success.
Strategically, McInnes brought in talents like Lawrence Shankland and Cammy Devlin from Hearts, players who had stood out magnificently in the previous season, enhancing the team’s potential.
Additional acquisitions such as Ivor Pandur, Vanja Dragojevic, and Daisuke Yokota came with respectable reputations, each expected to contribute significantly to Rangers’ quest for excellence.
Derek McInnes looks on in despair as Rangers crash out of the Europa League
Rangers striker Lawrence Shankland is dejected as the Ibrox men flopped against Jagiellonia
At the start of the campaign, there was a general consensus that Rangers were in far better shape than both Celtic and Hearts.
Yet, only four games in, and with elimination from the Europa League already confirmed, the sense of crisis at Ibrox is overpowering.
This is the job that McInnes has worked for all his career, but it is now in serious danger of going up in smoke before the whole thing has even got off the ground.
On the domestic front, after a draw with Dundee United and a defeat to Hibs in his opening two matches in the Premiership, McInnes spoke about recruitment and the need for more quality additions.
It was a theme he repeated both before and after the shambolic Europa League exit to Jagiellonia Bialystok on Thursday night.
Listening to the narrative he presented prior to that tie against the Poles, you could have been forgiven for thinking he was a manager who had spent all summer being denied any new signings.
But that is plainly not accurate. Heading into the second leg against Jagiellonia, Rangers had made nine new signings over the course of the summer.
Five of them — Shankland, Pandur, Yokota, Olwethu Makhanya and Dan Neil — all started on Thursday night. That’s almost half a team.
Three more of the new signings — Devlin, Dragojevic and Ross McCrorie — came off the bench in the second half.
Nik Prelec scores the decisive goal for Polish outfit Jagiellonia Bialystok at Ibrox on Thursday
Make no mistake, this is McInnes’ team. For all he may have been down to the bare bones at left-back, that alone does not excuse the paucity of the performance.
Nor does it excuse a nightmare couple of weeks which has seen him make one of the worst starts of any Rangers manager in history with four matches without a win.
Recruitment is only part of the equation. The manager has to take his fair share of responsibility for this mess. He is not getting the best out of those under his command.
McInnes is already treading a fine line. There is a section of supporters who want him gone already. They have seen enough.
The reaction at full-time on Thursday night was apoplectic. It’s not at the stage of being a majority just yet, but there is a section of the fanbase who believe he simply isn’t up to the job.
That still feels premature. But those who remain unconvinced about his credentials as a manager and coach have seen nothing so far to suggest he’s the right man to take the club forward.
For all McInnes can complain about a squad imbalance and a lack of cover in certain positions, he’s the guy picking the team and making the big calls.
His decision to move to a back four at half-time on Thursday night was a disaster. Rangers, who had been decent if not spectacular in the opening 45, were a rabble in the second half.
His team selections and tactics have been erratic and unconvincing. Speaking on Thursday night, McInnes admitted that he had been forced to pick square pegs in round holes in some cases.
But to blame this dreadful start to the new season purely on recruitment is an argument of convenience, one which would seek to spare the manager from any blame.
McInnes does not like what he sees on the touchline in the 1-1 draw against Jagiellonia
Plainly, it just doesn’t wash. The reality is that Rangers still had more than enough quality to take care of business against Jagiellonia.
It was a tie they should have won but failed to do so. It is a result which now puts McInnes in a position of real peril in this afternoon’s League Cup tie against St Mirren.
If St Mirren were to go to Ibrox and win, the place would erupt. Even more so than it did the other night, and even that felt close to Russell Martin levels of vitriol.
Turn the clock back to last season. For all his many flaws, Martin still had enough about him to see off Panathinaikos and Viktoria Plzen in the Champions League qualifiers.
McInnes has fallen at the first hurdle in Europe against lesser opposition, and in a lesser competition. When Martin’s side were battered 9-1 on aggregate by Club Brugge 12 months ago, it was humiliating.
But at least he had the excuse that Brugge were a very capable Champions League outfit. This time around, Rangers have just been dumped out of the Europa League by a team of no-marks.
When you weigh-up the result and the quality of opposition, it is not a stretch to suggest that the defeat to Jagiellonia over two legs is the club’s worst result in Europe since Progres Niederkorn.
That’s the sort of depths which Rangers are plumbing already this early in the season. All the talk this week from Andrew Cavenagh about culture eating strategy for breakfast is just noise.
The only thing Cavenagh should be eating is humble pie given how many times he’s had to hold his hands up and apologise for getting things wrong since he arrived just over a year ago.
Lawrence Shankland sums up the frustration surrounding Ibrox
It’s just vacuous nonsense and cheap soundbites. So, too, the assertion from Jim Gillespie that McInnes was picked for the job based on his similarities to Jurgen Klopp.
Rangers lost four of their five post-split fixtures at the end of last season. Danny Rohl was a dead man walking given how the team totally collapsed in the heat of a title race.
Yet, incredibly, and despite spending £60million on transfer fees since last summer, Rangers have regressed further still. They are now further away than ever.
St Mirren will travel to Ibrox this afternoon smelling blood. They have started the season in good form. They have won both of their opening two league matches, and five of their six games so far in all competitions.
If they were to knock Rangers out of the League Cup, McInnes could well be past the point of no return. There’s only so long this can go on, only so long a Rangers manager can go without a win.
The Europa Conference League qualifiers against Czech side Jablonec will be no pushover either on the basis of what Rangers have served up so far this season, with the first leg at Ibrox on Thursday.
Even this early in the season, we have reached the point where it’s a case of sink or swim for McInnes.
