Rangers Exit Europa League Amid Manager's Warning
Rangers crashed out of the Europa League with a whimper and a warning from their own manager: this team is not ready for this level.
A 1-1 draw against Jagiellonia Bialystok at Ibrox sealed a 3-2 aggregate defeat in the third qualifying round and brought a furious chorus of boos at full-time. It is Rangers’ earliest exit from European competition since 2017 and extends Derek McInnes’ winless start in charge to four matches.
The reaction from the stands was raw. McInnes did not try to sugar-coat it.
“It was justified, to be honest. It wasn't good enough. What we served up, particularly second half, wasn't good enough,” the former Rangers midfielder admitted.
He went further, cutting to the heart of the club’s identity and current reality.
“We need to be honest, the club's built for Europa League and Champions League and that's the intention, to get there. But I'm not sure the team is quite ready for it at the moment and it pains me to say that, to be honest, it does.
“We need to get more quality, we need to try and get more confidence out of the team.”
Tactical gamble, familiar flaws
Injuries had already stripped Rangers of key options. Left-back Tuur Rommens and striker Youssef Chermiti were both missing, and McInnes responded by ripping up Sunday’s plan from the defeat to Hibernian.
He went with a back three and made five changes, pushing Gassama and Yakota into demanding wing-back roles in an attempt to stretch the game and create more penalty-box pressure.
“I felt we had to make the game open and it was a bit too open at times in the first half. Gassama and Yakota playing as kind of effectively wing-backs, we were asking a lot of them at times,” he said.
The risk did bring some reward.
“I thought it paid dividends in terms of penalty box action, getting the goal. I thought we were good value for getting it one and a half-time, but I still thought that Jagiellonia had a couple of scares.”
That caveat proved telling. The same old problem resurfaced: Rangers could not put together a complete performance.
“Once again, it's not another 90-minute performance. That's been in the Rangers for a while now. It's been a continuation of that this season, already.
“In the four games we've played, we've had some good moments, but it's not been good enough and certainly not a strong enough 90-minute performance.”
The turning point, in McInnes’ eyes, came with the concession of the decisive goal on the night. The frustration in his assessment was unmistakable.
“For us to lose the goal. It's inexplicable how we don't make a foul, how we don't stop the flow of the attack, how we don't just sanitise that whole situation.
“It's not lack of bodies, it's lack of intelligence, it's lack of doing the right thing, to be honest.
“We lost all our composure after that, if I'm going to be honest with you.”
A brutal start, but no backing down
McInnes is Rangers’ sixth permanent manager since Steven Gerrard left in 2021. The churn in the dugout has been relentless; the expectations have not moved an inch.
Four games into his tenure, with no wins and a European campaign already over, the scrutiny will only intensify. He insists he knew exactly what he was walking into.
“What we served up last year wasn't good enough. You get a job for a reason,” he said. “You get a job to try and make things better and obviously sometimes you get it because things aren't quite right, and we have to try and get things moving the right way quickly.”
There was no attempt to dress up the scale of the setback.
“There's no two ways about it, we should be winning this game. Rangers, as strong as they can be, should be winning this day and we have got work to do between now and the end of the window, but between now and Sunday to get ready to win a [League] Cup tie [against holders St Mirren].”
The transfer window is still open, the fixture list does not wait, and the Europa League is gone. The question now is simple and stark: how quickly can McInnes turn a team he says is “not ready” into one that can live up to the badge it wears?
