Rangers Chairman Promises Reinforcements Amid Early-Season Struggles
Rangers chairman Andrew Cavenagh has promised more reinforcements before the transfer window closes, while bluntly admitting the club’s early-season form is nowhere near the standard he expects.
Nine players have already arrived at Ibrox this summer, yet Derek McInnes’ new-look side has stumbled out of the blocks – just one point from two Scottish Premiership matches and a 2-1 deficit to Jagiellonia Bialystok after the first leg of their Europa League third qualifying round tie.
For a board that came in talking about changing the club’s mentality, the opening weeks have been a jolt.
“Clunky” business and a restless start
Speaking at an open forum in Glasgow, Cavenagh did not try to dress it up.
He described the club’s transfer business to date as “clunky”, a word that captures the uneasy blend of high turnover, tight timelines and a squad still trying to find its shape. The plan, though, is not finished.
“I don't like putting a number on it,” he told shareholders, “but certainly I'd hope three to five more players are coming in and a number will possibly go out.”
That is a sizeable churn for any club, never mind one already under pressure to deliver instant results. Yet Cavenagh’s message was clear: they are still building, and the work is urgent.
Big games, tight window
The urgency is sharpened by the fixture list. Rangers host Jagiellonia on Thursday in a tie that already feels pivotal. Win, and they move into the Europa League play-offs against either Northern Irish champions Larne or Iberia Tbilisi of Georgia. Lose, and the early-season mood darkens considerably.
“It sucks that we have to play a number of important games before the window closes but that's how it works,” Cavenagh said, summing up the frustration of trying to remodel a squad in the middle of key European qualifiers.
The club has chosen to live with that tension. Important decisions on incomings and outgoings will land while McInnes is trying to steer his new team through matches that could define their European campaign – and, by extension, the tone of his first season.
Fighting a culture of second best
When Cavenagh and his fellow investors arrived around a year ago, they did so with a clear slogan: “sustained winning and winning sustainably.” It was both a promise and a rebuke to what they felt the club had become.
“When we came in, we realised finishing second and sometimes worse was seeping into every corner of this club and we had to change that, but it takes time,” he said.
The early evidence this season underlines that point. One point from six in the league. A deficit to overturn in Europe. A manager still bedding in a raft of signings. Cavenagh admitted results are “not where he would like them to be,” but he pushed back against any temptation to wallow.
“We could look at how things have gone in the first three games and sit here and sulk, but we're not going to do that,” he insisted. “I understand we're not there yet; I'm more optimistic now than I was a year ago.”
Optimism, though, will not be enough on Thursday night. The second leg against Jagiellonia offers an early test of whether this rebuilt Rangers side can match the chairman’s ambition – or whether the culture he vowed to change will continue to bite into another season.
