Syndicated reporting provided by Stats Perform and reviewed by the SoccerNews editorial team.
Derek McInnes’ appointment at Rangers was to try and emulate the heavy-metal football Jurgen Klopp brought to Liverpool, says the club’s chief executive Jim Gillespie.
McInnes was announced as Danny Rohl’s successor in June following a sensational 2025-26 campaign with Hearts, where they nearly lifted the Scottish Premiership title.
During his time at Tynecastle, McInnes won 28 of his 44 matches in charge across all competitions (D8 L8), while his prior links with Rangers made him their ideal candidate.
McInnes made 34 appearances for Rangers as a player and also turned down an approach from the Glasgow giants in December 2017, when he was in charge of Aberdeen.
He eventually made the move this year, bringing Lawrence Shankland and Cameron Devlin with him from Hearts, but his time at Rangers has not gone according to plan so far.
After three games of Rangers’ season, McInnes is yet to register a win. Rangers drew their Premiership opener to Dundee United before losing 2-1 in the first leg of their Europa League third round qualifier against Jagiellonia Bialystok.
McInnes’ first league game in charge of Rangers at Ibrox Stadium on Sunday also ended in defeat, with Callum Wright’s stoppage-time goal sealing a 2-1 victory for Hibernian.
Gillespie, however, is confident that McInnes will be able to turn things around, saying the decision to appoint him was a result of his attacking, high-octane style of play.
“You can go for a Pep [Guardiola] style manager or a Klopp style manager – we wanted a Klopp-style manager who plays on the front foot,” Gillespie said, speaking at an open forum in Glasgow.
“Derek has been high on our list for a long time, and we think he fits the style and culture of this club.”
Rangers 1 – 2 Hibernian pic.twitter.com/Qq2HFUBoGM
— Rangers Football Club (@RangersFC) August 9, 2026
McInnes is Rangers’ third permanent manager in the last year, with Russell Martin and Rohl also taking charge of the club during the last 12 months.
Along with their change in manager, Rangers have also been busy in the transfer window. They have welcomed nine new faces so far and are looking to add even more.
Shankland, Devlin, Ben Godfrey, Dan Neil, Ross McCrorie, Daisuke Yokota, Olwethu Makhanya, Vanja Dragojevic and Ivor Pandur have already joined the club, while the likes of Jack Butland, Oliver Antman and Danilo have all departed.
And Rangers chairman Andrew Cavenagh expressed his desire to get between three and five more players through the door before the transfer window slams shut.
“There’s certainly work to be done,” Cavenagh said.
“I don’t like putting a number on it, but certainly I’d hope three to five more players are coming in, and a number will possibly go out.”
Rangers host Jagiellonia in the return leg on Thursday, with either Northern Irish champions Larne or Iberia Tbilisi of Georgia awaiting the winners in the Europa League play-offs.
“It sucks that we have to play a number of important games before the window closes, but that’s how it works,” Cavenagh added.
“When we came in around a year ago, our ambition was to sustain winning and winning sustainably.
“I understand we’re not there yet, but I’m more optimistic now than I was a year ago.
“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.
“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.”
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