Derek McInnes has now been in charge at Rangers for 100 days, at the club he grew up supporting, played for and previously declined the chance to manage. His brief but busy tenure has featured a huge squad overhaul, a sluggish start that brought jeers from the Ibrox crowd, and the failure to qualify for European football for the first time in a decade. Then came September, when a golden start to autumn quietened talk of a crisis as a winning streak stretched to six games, including two Old Firm derby victories.
McInnes was announced as Rangers manager on 17 June, replacing the departed Danny Rohl. The appointment came one month and one day after his Heart of Midlothian side were pipped to the title by Celtic on the final day of the previous season. It was 26 years since his days as a Rangers player ended with a move to West Bromwich Albion, and eight-and-a-half years since he had turned down the chance to become boss under the chairmanship of Dave King. “It is no secret that I grew up a Rangers supporter and I am convinced this is the right time to take on this prestigious role,” McInnes said. “There is a lot of hard work ahead.”
The new era began at Tannadice on 31 July with a 1-1 draw against Dundee United, Thelo Aasgaard scoring a second-half equaliser. “We worked hard to get back into it, but I don’t think we were good enough to win the game,” McInnes said, adding that the point was the right scoreline and that his side had been too frantic and wasteful. The European campaign opened on 6 August with a 2-1 defeat away to Jagiellonia Bialystok in eastern Poland in the first leg of their Europa League third qualifying round tie. “I just felt we beat ourselves, to be honest,” McInnes noted. “We made two mistakes for the two goals.” Rangers’ first home match of the season, on 9 August, also ended in a 2-1 defeat, this time by Hibernian, with a late Callum Wright goal sealing victory for the Edinburgh side. Worse still, striker Youseff Chermitti suffered an ACL injury that scuppered any potential big-money sale amid reports of interest from Galatasaray. “There are little things going against us at the minute, but we have to stay strong – we’re not as bad as people think,” McInnes insisted, saying he shared the supporters’ frustration.
The European disappointment deepened. On 13 August another below-par performance had supporters up in arms as Shankland scored from the penalty spot but a second-half goal from Nik Prelec earned Jagiellonia a draw on the night and progress on aggregate. “We should be winning this game,” McInnes said. On 26 August a penalty shoot-out defeat by the unfancied Czech side Jablonec eliminated Rangers from Europe altogether, missed spot kicks by Findlay Curtis and James Penrice handing victory to Lubos Kozel’s team after a 1-0 defeat. It was a bitter blow for the balance sheet as the Ibrox club faced up to life without European football proper for the first time in 10 years. “I’m embarrassed with the performance,” McInnes said, praising his support staff and the supporters as the only people who had represented the club well.
The first win arrived on 16 August, five games into the new season, an emphatic 5-1 thumping of holders St Mirren in the Premier Sports Cup. “We gave up a couple of chances, which we weren’t too pleased about, but there was a good attacking threat from the team,” McInnes said. On 30 August he registered his first Scottish Premiership win as Rangers manager at his old stamping ground of Pittodrie, a Shankland penalty getting the job done, and he praised Kim Min-Su as evidence that the summer recruitment was beginning to bear fruit. “I thought we were far more like the Rangers team I want us to be,” he said.
A third successive Premiership win followed on 5 September, a 2-1 success at Falkirk, but it came at a cost as captain Shankland tore a hamstring and was set to be sidelined for months, with Ryan Naderi replacing him and scoring. “We’d have taken any sort of win because we’re up against a good team, but I really enjoyed how many chances we created,” McInnes said. On 9 September it looked like the winning run would end until Bojan Miovski came off the bench to score a stoppage-time winner at home to St Mirren to spark wild celebrations. Rangers moved into second place in the Premiership, five points behind leaders Celtic, with four wins on the bounce. “There are obviously loads we have to improve on, but we have to keep winning while we are looking for those improvements,” McInnes said.
Then came the Old Firm statement results. On 13 September, in his Old Firm managerial debut, McInnes demanded a big performance and got it, with a few tactical surprises paying off as Rangers powered into the Premier Sports Cup semi-finals. Two goals from the inspired Dan Neill and a first for Kelsy set up a meeting with Aberdeen at Hampden. “It was the performance and result we were all looking for,” McInnes said. “They’re a young squad and they saw how much that result means to the supporters.” On 20 September the two Glasgow sides met again, this time at Celtic Park in the Premiership, where a Naderi goal stunned the 60,000 home supporters and moved Rangers two points behind their rivals. “It’s just three points and it gets us three points closer to Celtic,” McInnes reflected. “I like putting my name to this team at the minute and I think we’ve got a good thing going.”
Former Rangers interim boss and captain Barry Ferguson believes the reaction to the European exit has been the turning point. “I’ve been really impressed since exiting in Europe,” he said. “Even before the two Celtic games, they played well in parts of it, other parts they didn’t, but they found a way to win, and that’s so important.” Ferguson acknowledged that the big turnover of players meant it would always take time, with some recruits hitting the ground running and others needing longer. “But now I think you’re starting to see a team that’s got a real togetherness,” he added. “That’s the biggest thing for me.”