So what are our expectations as things stand under Derek McInnes for the new season? Obviously, we know the transfer window does not close for quite some considerable time. Rangers have around 7 weeks to complete all their transfer business. They have the whole of August, the rest of July and a little portion at the start of September. There is plenty of time to get reinforcements in.
Expectations for the start of the season
However, for the opening of the serious action in the Premiership, Rangers have just 2 weeks to finish any business they want to get done. Where are our expectations as things stand? In all honesty, Ibrox Noise’s expectations for the coming season, and especially for the start, are not sky high.
We are happy with the regime that is in place. But Derek McInnes, as much as he is a Rangers man and a great manager, very few are Walter Smith. Let us face it, no one is.
Walter Smith could take an absolutely honking squad, add only 2 or 3 free signings to that, and make Scotland’s best team overnight. The man was beyond a maestro and a genius. That was a one off. We do not expect the same results from McInnes, but we will see in time what his signings thus far are and can achieve as part of the squad.
Previous mistakes still affect Rangers
In terms of the opening match of the season, Ibrox Noise’s expectations are not sky high, as we have said. Too many regimes have cobbled together an absolutely terrible squad that he’s inherited. While we have added 6 players this summer, we cannot be guaranteed all 6 will be successes.
We are happier with the regime. While Rangers will always be a must win club, and even a draw is the end of the world, we have to temper our expectations given the issues that we have previously had.
One of those is the fact that both previous regimes spent an absolute fortune on junk. Rangers spent around £40M in the last 2 windows on absolutely diabolical players. Only one of them (Tuur Rommens) actually proved to be value for money. The rest of them were not.
McInnes must work within limits
Whether we can get more out of some of those players now is another matter entirely. But today Rangers cannot just spend that same kind of cash without selling big time first. That is a huge problem for McInnes.
He cannot just sign players without selling them and getting the revenue in to do so. That said, we do understand these 2 signings from Tromsø and Partizan Belgrade may indeed be close, but that is a side point.
Rangers going into the new season cannot just spend freely to get new players in, overbulk the squad, overbloat the group and have too many players on hand. We have to unfortunately play with the hand that we are dealt. Currently, that hand is a bit average.
Patience may be needed
McInnes knows this. He is trying to fix it as much as he can. However, there is limited time before the start of the new season in terms of domestic action.
So we do not really have any expectations going to Dundee United. For the very first time ever, Ibrox Noise will not be heartbroken if we lose or draw. We cannot expect a lot from this team.
We hope to be wrong and we hope that it will already be guns firing, cylinders fully engaged, and Rangers will stroll out winners at Tannadice. That would be a fantastic start to the season. It might just show that this team is more ready than we fear.
But if it is not, it is okay. When you have the Rangers that you want at long last, it can reduce expectations and increase support. We just want to see the team do well. We will not lose our heads if it does not do it at the start.
But in terms of the expectations for next season, 56? Well, that is a whole other story, is it not?