Rangers’ summer recruitment still looks like a mess

There is no defence for what we watched unfold in the summer. It felt like a massive set-back for Rangers at the time, and the more that comes out, the more it looks like something that will take several transfer windows to properly fix.

The Fernandez fee and what it tells us

The thing that really brought it home for me was listening to a Peterborough fan talk about Fernandez. He was saying that Fernandez was not even a nailed-on regular for them and that they were flirting with dropping into League 2. On the back of that, he genuinely could not believe how much money they managed to get for him from us.

That outside perspective is uncomfortable. When a supporter of the selling club is baffled, and basically saying he does not understand how their side pulled in that fee, it makes you look in the mirror. It raises fair questions about who sanctioned the deal, what checks were done, and whether anyone at Rangers really challenged the valuation. You can debate how good the player might become, but the whole situation does not exactly scream joined-up recruitment.

If we are paying that price for him, it naturally scares you about what the rest of the business looks like. Because if that is one example we have heard a bit of detail on, what does that say about the wider picture of the window?

Structure, responsibility and new owners’ shock

That is where the bigger worry lies for me. I can easily imagine Kevin Thelwell not needing to run every signing past the new owners in the summer, especially if there was still a level of trust in the people already running the day-to-day. You would expect they leaned heavily on Patrick Stewart and the club structure to keep things on the right track.

But looking back at the overall summer business, it is not hard to believe the new ownership group have taken a proper look and been completely gobsmacked. The recruitment looks scattergun, poor value in places, and nowhere near ruthless enough for where Rangers need to be.

That is the part that really stings. We all know mistakes happen in the market, every club has them, but this felt bigger than one bad punt. It felt like a window where the strategy, the checks and balances, and the accountability simply were not strong enough. Now it is Danny Röhl and the current leadership team who are left trying to sort out the mess, one window at a time.

It is going to take patience, smart planning and a lot less of the kind of business that has left opposition fans scratching their heads at how much we are paying. Truth is, Rangers should not be the club other teams are amazed to be cashing in on. That has to change, and fast.

Written by bigbluejim: 13 December 2025