Has Cavenagh Trusted The Wrong People?

Short version: I think Andrew Cavenagh has the ambition and the purse, but perhaps he’s been a touch too trusting of the football people he appointed. The share issue went well, there’s talk of more signings and decent cash being made available, yet the performances and the feel of this squad still leave questions.

Backing the bank — but who spends the money?

To be fair, you can’t fairly slate an owner who is actually putting money into rebuilding the club. The £16m share issue and talk of a summer spend in the sort of region people have mentioned show intent. If Cavenagh had dug his heels in, refused to invest and left us scavenging the bargain bins, that’d be a different argument entirely.

But there’s a difference between having money and spending it wisely. An owner hands over the chequebook, then relies on the people he’s hired to turn that cash into a squad that plays like Rangers and wins the big games. If recruitment and the football operation don’t deliver, the blame starts to point to those responsible for spending and structure, not just the wallet holder.

The risk of hiring the right talkers, not the right doers

When you don’t come from a lifetime in football you need experts. The trouble is how convincing those experts can sound in meetings. “This is the structure we need. These are the people. Give us time.” Sounds sensible. Sounds neat. But football’s unforgiving — the only audit that matters is results on the pitch.

At the shareholder meeting Cavenagh accepted collective responsibility and stuck by his appointments rather than publicly naming and shaming. That’s respectable. But it also suggests he’s been backing people rather than outcomes. Perhaps he believed the process and the sales pitch and gave them more rope than he should have.

What are we actually missing?

Look at the basics. If we’re spending and yet still asking where the creative box-to-box midfielder is, where the reliable striker is, where consistent goal-producing wingers are, then that’s on the people identifying targets. Same with full-backs and leaders across the dressing room. You can buy names, but assembling a balanced squad that fits a manager’s ideas is a different skill.

It’s also worth remembering Cavenagh did act before — Stewart and Thelwell are reminders that changes can come when the results or structure demand them. Now there are rumours about further changes in the football department. If they prove true, maybe it’ll be evidence he’s reassessing who to trust.

So is he the problem?

No, not entirely. There’s a big difference between an owner with no ambition and an owner who backs the club financially but makes mistakes in hiring. If Cavenagh has been misled by slick interviews and confident presentations, that is still his responsibility — but it also points the finger at the hires more than at a lack of will.

We need sharper recruitment, clearer football thinking and a group of decision-makers who can consistently identify the right players for Rangers, not just the right sounding arguments. That might mean fresh faces in the football department or a harsher scoreboard-based approach to assessing those already in post.

What I’m interested in hearing is whether others see it the same way: an ambitious owner who’s trusted the wrong people — or something else entirely?

Written by Thestigno1: 19 August 2026