What is abundantly clear about Rangers following the opening day debacle at Tannadice is that the squad is miles short. It is nowhere near where it needs to be. More tellingly, Derek McInnes has not been shy in calling Rangers poor squad out.
Rangers managers have said this before
Previous Rangers managers have said similar things. The squad’s quality is not good enough for what the club wants to achieve. When Rangers are signing slop like Makhanya and Dan Neil, there does seem to be some merit to this.
In previous windows, of course, it was Youssef Chermiti and Ryan Naderi. Neither has proven anywhere close to the value of the combined £16M they cost.
As we have discussed previously, recruitment is heavily at fault here. Of course, Derek McInnes signs off on all the players that Rangers bring in. However, if he does not, Rangers do not get any players at all.
Rangers have endured an average window
This summer window has been average. As we have seen, the incoming players are generally not exactly poor. However, they have not shown themselves to be Rangers standard either.
We always hark back, probably unfairly, to the days of Walter Smith. Everyone remembers the alpha players that the old legend was able to bring in.
We only had to look at the Scottish Premiership’s best players in Kevin Thomson and Steven Naismith. He also brought in some trusty warhorses who were reliable at the top levels, like Ugo Ehiogu and David Weir.
This calibre of player made Rangers better. We cannot say the same thing about Dan Neil and Makhanya. Too many average or below average players are coming in.
If Derek McInnes does not sign off on these players and accept them, Rangers will not sign anyone. The problem is that the market Rangers are shopping in remains underwhelming.
The market remains underwhelming
Let us not forget that our new goalkeeper looked extremely shaky in Dundee. He was a £6M signing from the Championship.
He did not play a minute for Croatia at the World Cup. Likewise, his new teammate Makhanya did not feature for South Africa either.
Of course, in all fairness, Findlay Curtis did not play much for Scotland. Liam Kelly did not even play a minute. Lawrence Shankland played one or two matches, but that was about it.
However, the point is that Rangers are shopping in the same market under Derek McInnes as they were before. It simply has different names.
McInnes is not shy in saying that he needs quality in the squad. Rangers need players of the required calibre to challenge Celtic or Hearts this season.
Signing average level players makes us a mid level SPL team. It does not make us title contenders.
McInnes wants genuine quality
McInnes knows this. He wants to shout from the rooftops and get players who can Make Rangers Great Again.
Unfortunately, those coming in are either tried and tested old projects, young projects or complete unknowns. Ibrox Noise will soon have a piece about the defensive issues. That is quite an important one.
In terms of the general signings, we liked what was coming in on paper. However, we never said it would produce an outstanding season or raise our level.
Any prudent viewer and reader of Ibrox Noise’s channels will know our expectations of Rangers poor squad were not terribly high this season. We liked the likes of Shankland and McCrorie coming in.
However, we could not exactly say that level would take us back to being champions. That did not look likely. Nevertheless, it was a starting point.
The problem is that Rangers will need much better than what they have signed to challenge this season. They will certainly need much better use of their money.