Rangers fans have seen this film before: a summer that starts with hope, ends with a squad that feels half-built, and a manager trying to bolt cohesion onto a group that’s still learning each other’s names. I’m not making excuses for RM, but I do think the context matters. Bringing in a steady stream of new faces while also juggling European games is a brutal way to build anything that looks like a settled side.
Ambition is one thing, churn is another
On paper, lots of signings can look like progress. It feels busy. It feels like we’re “doing something”. And to be fair, you can point to clubs down south who’ve signed loads and hit the ground running. But that’s often at a level where the pool of available players is deeper, and where squads are built with more time, more money, and more margin for error.
At Rangers, that margin is tiny. Every dropped point becomes a headline. Every dodgy performance gets magnified. So when you’re changing the dressing room week after week, you’re asking for a level of instant chemistry that most teams simply don’t get.
European football makes the rebuild harder
The bit that gets missed is how Europe affects the basics. There’s less training time. Recovery becomes the priority. You’re preparing for different styles of opponent, travelling, rotating, and trying to manage minutes. In that kind of schedule, coaching patterns of play and building understanding can feel like trying to paint a wall in the rain.
That’s why I never fully bought the idea that it was just “stubbornness” from RM. You can be adaptable and still look like nothing’s working if the squad is constantly shifting under your feet. Sometimes you throw everything at it, change shapes, change personnel, tweak the press, and it still doesn’t settle. We’ve all watched Rangers sides where it looks like 11 individuals rather than a unit, and this is often how you get there.
Trim it, but don’t rip it up again
I agree the squad needs trimmed. It’s felt bloated and a bit unbalanced for a while. The worry is the answer becomes another big intake, eight in or more, and suddenly we’re back at the start again. The optimist says, “at least we’ll have more to build on this time”, but I’m not convinced that’s guaranteed if key players go too.
If the likes of Raskin and Dio are moved on, and if other important pieces don’t stick around, it’s not a rebuild, it’s a reset. Again. Rangers need a window that looks more like shaping than scrambling: fewer bodies, clearer roles, and a plan that doesn’t rely on instant gelling by September.
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