Rangers Chairman Cavenagh on Summer Rebuild Progress

Rangers chairman Andrew Cavenagh has admitted the club’s summer rebuild remains a work in progress, predicting three to five more signings before the transfer window shuts as early results under Derek McInnes fall short of expectations.

Nine new players have already arrived at Ibrox, yet Rangers have just a single point from their opening two Scottish Premiership fixtures and trail Jagiellonia Bialystok 2-1 after the first leg of their Europa League third qualifying round tie.

It is not the start the new regime imagined.

“Clunky” rebuild, clear demands

Speaking at an open forum in Glasgow, Cavenagh did not dress anything up. He described the club’s transfer business to date as “clunky” and accepted that the team is nowhere near the standard he wants to see.

“There's certainly work to be done,” he told shareholders, before outlining the scale of the next phase. “I don't like putting a number on it but certainly I'd hope three to five more players are coming in and a number will possibly go out.”

That is a significant churn for a squad already heavily reshaped. Yet Cavenagh’s message was blunt: the job is not finished, and the league table is an uncomfortable reminder of that.

Results lag behind rhetoric

McInnes, only two league games into his tenure, has been tasked with changing the mentality of a club Cavenagh says had become too accepting of second best. The chairman did not hide his frustration at how quickly old doubts have resurfaced.

“I understand we're not there yet; I'm more optimistic now than I was a year ago,” he said. The line carried a note of realism, but also a warning. Optimism alone will not be enough if performances do not turn.

Rangers’ European campaign already sits on a knife-edge. They must overturn the first-leg deficit to Jagiellonia at Ibrox on Thursday to reach the play-offs, where either Larne of Northern Ireland or Iberia Tbilisi of Georgia lie in wait.

“It sucks that we have to play a number of important games before the window closes but that's how it works,” Cavenagh admitted. The schedule offers no sympathy. Nor will the support.

Changing a losing habit

When Cavenagh and his fellow investors arrived around a year ago, they spoke of “sustained winning and winning sustainably” as the core ambition. That phrase returned at the forum, but this time with a sharper edge.

“When we came in, we realised finishing second and sometimes worse, was seeping into every corner of this club and we had to change that, but it takes time,” he said.

That culture, he suggested, still lingers. The first three competitive games of the season have reopened old scars, yet Cavenagh rejected the idea of wallowing in early setbacks.

“We could look at how things have gone in the first three games and sit here and sulk, but we're not going to do that,” he insisted.

The stance is defiant. The reality is harsher. Rangers must now balance an aggressive late push in the transfer market with the pressure of must-win European and domestic fixtures. The chairman has set the bar and the tone; the question is whether McInnes and his remodelled squad can reach it quickly enough to stop another season slipping into familiar frustration.