Rangers Recruitment Has Left Us Looking Ordinary

Rangers fans expected a squad to dominate Scotland again, but this summer’s recruitment has left the team looking more like the rest of the league than a club built to win trophies.

Rangers were supposed to be building a squad to dominate Scotland again. Instead, this summer’s business has left many supporters feeling we have simply stocked up on players you could just as easily imagine turning out for Dundee United, Hibs or Aberdeen, while paying a premium for the privilege.

Signings That Feel Like SPFL Stock, Not Title-Winners

When you look across the squad, too many of the recent arrivals feel like the kind of players you would expect to see scattered around the rest of the Premiership rather than leading the line for Rangers. The frustration is that the likes of Dundee United, Hibs or Aberdeen did not land these players because Rangers were willing to offer more money and bigger wages, not because the targets themselves were of a level far beyond those clubs.

That is the core of the anger. Supporters are not saying every signing is a bad player, but that as a collective, the recruitment drive has not raised the overall standard. It has made us look more like the rest of the division, when the whole point of a Rangers transfer window should be to move further away from that level.

Recruitment Built By Non-Winners

There is also a deeper concern about who has been trusted to shape the squad. The feeling is that the people running the recruitment side did not come from clubs that were used to winning trophies season after season. When you build a squad for a club that must win, you need an eye for players who can handle expectation, pressure and the demand to deliver every single week.

Instead, the process has looked like generic SPFL recruitment dropped into a club that needs so much more. That is why many fans describe the whole thing as embarrassing and a waste of money. It is not just about individual players, it is about a model that has not been fit for a big club with big ambitions.

Board Under Pressure To Fix Their Own Mistakes

All of this lands squarely at the feet of the owners and decision-makers. If tens of millions have been spent assembling a squad that does not look clearly superior to Hearts, Aberdeen, Hibs, St Mirren, Motherwell or Dundee United in overall quality, then those at the top must answer for it. They are the ones who hired the people in charge of recruitment and backed the strategy.

Some supporters are already wondering how long this ownership will actually stick around if results and performances do not match the promises. When they arrived, fans dreamed of Rangers re-establishing themselves as the dominant force in Scottish football. Instead, there is a strong sense we have regressed towards the pack rather than pulling away from it.

Would You Swap This Squad For Last Season’s?

That is why you now hear the line from the stands and online that many would swap this squad for last year’s without hesitation. Whatever the flaws of previous groups, there was at least a clearer spine and identity at times than what we are seeing now. With that in mind, some supporters are beginning to question whether the much-heralded American investment is truly delivering what was hoped.

Rangers fans can accept the odd bad window; what they cannot accept is the feeling that a precious period of rebuilding has been squandered. Until recruitment is fixed from the top down and the club starts signing players who look like genuine Rangers starters rather than solid SPFL options, the frustration will only grow. Rangers News Views aims to give supporters honest, thoughtful coverage without the usual rumour mill.

Written by OrangeT 4 12 2025