Rangers manager Derek McInnes is poised to scrap the pre-season arrangements left in place by his predecessor Danny Rohl before the new campaign begins.
Rohl had organised a week-long warm weather training camp in the Austrian Alps, with a rumoured friendly against Sparta Prague also penciled into the schedule.
However, McInnes is now actively considering alternative destinations for Rangers ahead of what promises to be a demanding season under his leadership.
Ibrox chiefs are examining whether they can cancel the booking at the alpine resort that Rohl requested before he departed to join RB Salzburg following his exit from the club.
McInnes has been clear that his side will be fully prepared before their Premiership opener against Dundee United at Tannadice on July 31, regardless of where pre-season takes place.
The Rangers boss addressed the uncertainty around the Austrian trip directly, saying: “So nothing’s been confirmed on that.”
He added: “We’ve got a structure in place now, we’ve been liaising with the club over the last week, so we’ve got dates in mind to tick boxes of our games.”
McInnes confirmed that several options remain on the table, stating: “We’re looking at one or two different options potentially, but we’ve not ruled out going to Austria yet at the minute.”
The club have a home fixture against West Ham at Ibrox scheduled for July 26, which McInnes indicated would likely be their only home outing before the competitive season begins.
He said: “We’ve got a couple of closed-door games already booked in, and we’ve got the West Ham fixture at Ibrox, we think that’ll probably be the only game at Ibrox before we play Dundee United.”
McInnes met his new squad for the first time on Thursday, with just over a month remaining until the Dundee United clash at Tannadice.
The former Aberdeen, Kilmarnock and Hearts manager currently has only five senior defenders contracted, with Ross McCrorie’s return representing just the second summer signing alongside Lawrence Shankland.
McInnes revealed the groundwork for squad-building was already underway during his holiday, saying he had held multiple Zoom calls with Jim Gillespie and Dan Purdy to assess the group.
He explained: “We’ve tried to get a framework in place of what the squad needs to look like in terms of numbers and in terms of positions, and then just slowly but surely adding the names to that.”
The Rangers manager acknowledged that not every transfer target would be secured, noting: “I’ve never been a manager that gets everything they want, so I don’t expect to get everything that we want.”
McInnes also called on the existing squad to respond to a difficult previous campaign, saying: “There’s nothing worse as a player than getting labelled as an underperforming or an underachieving one.”
He expressed optimism about improving results from the current group, adding: “I’m looking forward to getting amongst the players, trying to get a bit more out of the current squad.”
The manager stressed that no decisions had yet been made regarding departures, insisting: “There’s been no real decisions made on anybody at this moment in time.”
McInnes closed with a measured target for the window, saying: “Hopefully I can get a grasp of things really quickly over the next few weeks, and certainly by the time the window closes, the squad’s a wee bit more how I would like it to be.”
About the Author
