Rangers' Europa League Exit: McInnes Faces Pressure After Disappointing Start
Derek McInnes walked into Ibrox knowing the numbers. After three games, barring caretakers, no Rangers manager had ever started worse. Now it’s four – and the mood is turning.
By the time the final minutes ticked away in Thursday’s Europa League third qualifying round tie with Jagiellonia Bialystok, thousands of home fans were already heading for the exits. There was still a chance of a late goal, still the possibility of extra time. The stands told you how much faith remained in that idea.
A 1-1 draw on the night sealed a 3-2 aggregate defeat and dumped Rangers out of the Europa League before the play-off round. It also dumped McInnes straight into the kind of glare that swallowed Russell Martin this time last year, when a stumbling start ended with the sack in early October.
Now McInnes is the man expected to repair the damage of last season’s third-place finish. Four games in, the questions are already sharp.
‘The club is built for Europe – the team isn’t’
McInnes has spent millions on nine new signings. He doesn’t pretend it’s enough.
"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. "We need to get more quality, we need to get more confidence into the team.
"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.
"Jagiellonia are a decent team with some good players and I think they're well coached, but Rangers at their best should be winning this."
The manager sees a continuation of last season’s failings: flashes of competence, no complete performance. A team that can play in spells, but not for 90 minutes.
When the final whistle brought a chorus of boos, he didn’t try to deflect it.
"I think it was justified, to be honest," he said. "What we served up in the second half was not good enough.
"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.
"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."
That lurch from promise to collapse is becoming a theme.
The switch that broke Rangers’ grip
Rangers led the tie at various points, but the second half at Ibrox unravelled after McInnes changed shape. He withdrew Thelo Aasgaard, brought on full-back Ross McCrorie and moved from a back three to a four.
McInnes argued the Norway midfielder was "not getting involved enough" and believed the tweak would free his wingers to play higher and hurt Jagiellonia.
The idea sounded logical. The reality, less so.
Former Rangers midfielder Andy Halliday, watching for BBC Radio Scotland’s Sportsound, didn’t sugar-coat it.
"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."
The change left Rangers open, nervous and unable to pin Jagiellonia back. Instead of a siege, there was a slide. The visitors grew in belief, and Ibrox grew restless.
Injury blow, transfer scramble
As if the result was not damaging enough, it comes on the back of brutal news about Youssef Chermiti. The 22-year-old striker has been ruled out with a long-term knee injury, shortly after Rangers rejected a sizeable bid for him.
Losing a key forward after turning down big money would sting any club. For a side already short of balance, it’s a punch to the ribs.
Rangers had been targeting wingers and defenders. Now a new striker is on the list as well. McInnes insists recruitment work is frantic, with PSV Eindhoven winger Couhaib Driouech set to be the next arrival.
Halliday looks at the squad and sees a deeper problem.
He believes it "shouldn't be that imbalanced this late into the transfer window" and argues they still need "three centre-halves, one left-back, two, arguably, three wingers".
That is a rebuild, not a tweak. Yet, as Halliday pointed out, this is still Rangers.
"But 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.
Right now, it isn’t.
Thursday’s defeat drops Rangers into a Conference League play-off against Czech side Jablonec. The stakes are lower than the Europa League, but the pressure won’t be.
Shankland feeling the weight
One of the big bets of the summer was reuniting McInnes with Lawrence Shankland, a partnership that pushed Celtic hard in last season’s title race at Hearts. At Ibrox, the equation is different. The scrutiny is relentless. And Shankland is captain now.
Former Rangers striker Steven Thompson believes the forward 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," he 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."
Every miscontrol, every missed decision, now comes with a roar from the stands. For a new captain in a misfiring side, that can feel suffocating.
Fans split – but patience is thin
Outside the dressing room, the debate is already raging. Some supporters want change now. Others argue the squad is such a mess that any manager would struggle.
Simon says he would "cut my losses and get rid of McInnes now", insisting he "never thought he was the man for this job" and accusing him of "spending a fortune and making us much worse".
Alan is blunt: "No more excuses. McInnes is proving that he is not up to the job."
On the other side, Jonny urges calm. "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."
Kris, though, points to a pattern: "Has McInnes had a match for Rangers yet where his side haven't been booed off the park?"
Alex peers ahead and sees trouble: "I foresee another trophyless season ahead for Rangers - no cohesion, no fight, no skill, nothing. Rangers are woeful."
Kevin goes further, dragging up an unflattering comparison. "Rangers look as a bad as they did under Mark Warburton in the Championship. In fact, that team would thump this one."
The anger is raw. The patience, clearly, is limited.
Where do Rangers go from here?
Rangers have tumbled out of the Europa League qualifiers, been shunted into the Conference League route and are scrambling for signings with the window ticking down. The manager says the team is not ready for the level the club expects. The stands are already voicing their verdict.
McInnes was hired to stop the drift and restore standards. Four games into his reign, with boos ringing round Ibrox and Europe slipping away, the question is no longer about his brief.
It’s how long he will be given to deliver it.
