After nearly two decades working his way back, Derek McInnes has been confirmed as just the 22nd permanent manager in the history of Rangers Football Club.
Barry Ferguson, a former team-mate of McInnes, says he is delighted by the appointment and believes it is an extremely clever decision by those at the top of the Marble Staircase.
McInnes arrives at Ibrox having managed St Johnstone, Bristol City, Aberdeen, Kilmarnock and Hearts across a career spanning 821 games in the dugout.
Ferguson argues that you simply do not survive that long in management without possessing top credentials, genuine resilience and a clear footballing philosophy.
As a boyhood Rangers supporter who also spent five years at the club as a player, McInnes is expected to view this role as the pinnacle of his entire coaching career.
Ferguson is direct in his assessment of past appointments, noting that McInnes is the eighth full-time manager at Ibrox in the last nine years, a number he calls far too many.
Unlike some predecessors, McInnes is unlikely to treat Rangers as a stepping stone, with Ferguson stating plainly that you are not going to leave Ibrox and find yourself a bigger job.
The signing of Lawrence Shankland from Hearts has been identified as a strong early move, giving the club a focal point in attack who can be dangerous week in, week out.
By recruiting both the Hearts captain and manager, Rangers executives Andrew Cavenagh and Jim Gillespie will hope they have significantly weakened one of their primary title rivals before a ball is kicked.
Ferguson also highlights an important symbolic shift, pointing out that both Russell Martin and Danny Rohl worked under the banner of head coach last season, whereas McInnes carries the full title of manager.
Being a manager at Ibrox demands far more than tactical work on the training pitch or tactical decisions by the sidelines, according to Ferguson’s analysis.
The role requires someone who can serve as a figurehead, a leader capable of galvanising players and supporters alike when results and circumstances become difficult.
Ferguson draws on his own experience playing under Walter Smith and Dick Advocaat to explain what shaped McInnes as a person, describing the extraordinary standards demanded within that dressing room.
“You’re not going to walk into a dressing room with the likes of Ally McCoist, Ian Durrant, Paul Gascoigne, Brian Laudrup, Andy Goram and Mark Hateley and survive if you’ve not got something about you as a person.”
McInnes held his own among that group not by being a guaranteed starter but by being trusted completely whenever he was called upon, earning respect from some of the biggest names ever to play in Scotland.
That experience of being a squad player rather than an automatic selection has fed directly into his managerial philosophy, centred on building collective strength across the entire group.
Ferguson believes the cracks in the current squad’s mentality were evident during the final weeks of last season, as Rangers crumbled under the pressure of the title race.
Fixing that psychological fragility will be the first major challenge McInnes must confront, making targeted recruitment in the coming weeks absolutely critical to any future success.
Ferguson is clear that Rangers supporters are tired of watching the manager’s office operate like a revolving door, and he believes McInnes represents the stability the club has desperately needed.
With the right signings added to Shankland’s arrival and a renewed dressing room mentality, Ferguson is confident that better times lie ahead under Derek McInnes at Ibrox.
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