NafisaDerek McInnes has been left facing uncomfortable questions over his future as Rangers manager after admitting he was “embarrassed” and “mortified” by the performance that ended the club’s European campaign in the most painful fashion.
Rangers travelled to Czechia with a precious 1-0 advantage from the first leg at Ibrox, knowing that avoiding defeat would be enough to keep their hopes of reaching the Conference League group stage alive.
Instead, what followed was one of the most miserable nights of the new McInnes era.
The Light Blues struggled to create anything of note, surrendered possession repeatedly and spent large periods looking completely devoid of attacking ideas. Jablonec, despite entering the tie as the underdogs, looked increasingly comfortable as the game progressed.
Vakhtang Chanturishvili eventually found the breakthrough with 15 minutes remaining, wiping out Rangers’ aggregate advantage and forcing extra time.
Even then, Rangers could not find the response required.
The match eventually went to penalties, where Ivor Pandur initially gave his team hope by saving Filip Zorvan’s effort.
But the advantage was quickly squandered.
Findlay Curtis and James Penrice both missed from the spot, leaving the two Rangers players devastated as Jablonec completed a stunning upset and sent the Scottish giants crashing out of Europe altogether.
For Rangers, the consequences are enormous.
The club have now failed to reach European group-stage football for the first time since 2017, despite significant investment being made into McInnes’ squad during the summer.
And with that backdrop, attention has inevitably turned towards the manager.
Derek McInnes breaks his silence on Rangers future:
McInnes did not attempt to hide from the scale of the disaster.
Rather than blaming the players, the long list of summer changes or the penalty shoot-out, the Rangers boss repeatedly placed responsibility on himself.
That has only intensified the scrutiny surrounding his position.
“I’m embarrassed with the performance. It wasn’t a good performance at any stretch of the imagination,” McInnes admitted.
“Then you think you might just get through… But it shouldn’t have come down to two boys, James Penrice and Findlay Curtis, in tears for missing a penalty kick. It shouldn’t have come down to that.
“I’m not going to sit here and make any excuses whatsoever. It wasn’t good enough. Yes, there’s been a big turnover of players.
“Yes, we looked very inexperienced at times. But the responsibility is mine to make sure that we are better than what we served up tonight. And we were miles short.”
Those words will do little to calm the growing debate around the Rangers boss.
McInnes made it even clearer that he believes the responsibility ultimately rests on his shoulders.
“I’m mortified by the performance. I know you can lose games of football, but we should have enough in the building to take care of that tonight,” he continued.
“I’ll take responsibility for the result, but the responsibility is shared. The players have got to be better than that.
“It’s my job to help the players, but they’ve got to help themselves as well.”
The question now is whether McInnes still believes he is the man capable of turning things around.
There was no indication from the manager that he intends to walk away from Ibrox, and his comments instead pointed towards him wanting to find solutions and continue working with the squad.
But after such a damaging result, the pressure is undoubtedly rising.
McInnes also admitted that Rangers currently lack a clear identity with the ball, something that will make uncomfortable reading for supporters who travelled to Czechia expecting a professional performance.
“You’ve got to be proactive and do more with the ball when you get it,” he said.
“I look at us now and I’m thinking, well, we’re no great as a possession-based team at the minute.
“We’re not a counter-attacking team enough, or effectively enough, at times. We don’t look like a team who are happy when we go direct.
“And teams need to be something. It’s my job to try and find the answers on the pitch because what was happening wasn’t working.”
That final sentence may ultimately be the most important one of the entire interview.
McInnes knows Rangers cannot continue without an identifiable style, particularly after the club have invested heavily in rebuilding the squad.
The manager now has to find the answers.
He will also have to do it without European football, meaning Rangers have lost both the prestige and financial rewards that would have come with progressing into the Conference League.
Rangers’ European failure leaves McInnes under pressure:
The warning signs were there early in Czechia when Jablonec striker Lamin Jawo missed a golden opportunity, but Rangers failed to respond.
The Light Blues repeatedly lost individual battles, second balls and possession, while their attacking threat remained almost non-existent.
McInnes accepted that this could not be allowed to continue.
“But listen, I can accept us not being on point and playing well all the time, but I can’t accept—and we shouldn’t accept—losing individual battles, losing duels and second balls, not winning enough tackles, and not getting the momentum of the game going our way.”
That admission places an enormous responsibility on the Rangers manager.
The arrival of Minsu Kim and Kevin Kelsy could provide fresh options, but McInnes also revealed that Nico Raskin remains in Glasgow amid continued uncertainty over his future.
“There have been no offers for Nico. It’s just been quite a few conversations, so I don’t know where that was. Certainly not today, ahead of the game—I hadn’t heard anything. So, I don’t know where that’s at. That may well change.”
McInnes admitted Rangers could have benefited from Raskin’s experience in midfield, but he refused to use the Belgian’s absence as an excuse.
“But I did think we lacked a bit of experience in the middle of the pitch at times. I think any team would miss somebody like Nico, but I need to say that’s not the reason why we’ve lost tonight. We should still have enough in the building, as I said.”
For now, McInnes remains Rangers manager.
But after one of the most humiliating European nights in the club’s recent history, the debate over whether he can turn things around has officially begun.
His own words have made one thing abundantly clear: he accepts that Rangers were nowhere near good enough.
Now the Rangers supporters will want to see whether he can produce the answers he promised to find.
Nafisa
