Derek McInnes last night admitted that Rangers simply were not good enough to reach the Europa League after being dumped out in the qualifiers by Jagiellonia Bialystok.
Seeking to overturn a 2-1 deficit from the first leg in Poland last week, Rangers took a first-half lead at Ibrox thanks to a penalty from Lawrence Shankland.
But they were pegged back midway through the second half when Jagiellonia forward Nik Prelec headed in an equaliser for the visitors, with Rangers losing 3-2 on aggregate as their early-season crisis deepened.
It leaves McInnes still without a win from his first four matches in charge – with a section of the Ibrox crowd turning against him and his misfiring players last night.
In terms of matters off the pitch, Rangers are understood to have agreed a loan deal to sign left-back James Penrice from AEK Athens, with an option to buy next summer.
But this was a damaging night for McInnes. Rangers looked utterly shambolic at times, and they will now drop down into the Europa Conference League play-off round against Jablonec of Czechia.
Rangers manager Derek McInnes has presided over an awful start to the season
Admitting that he and his team could have no excuses, the Rangers boss said: ‘This club is built for the Europa League and Champions League.
‘That’s obviously the intention, to get there. But I’m not sure the team is quite ready for it at the moment.
‘It pains me to say that, to be honest. It does. We need to get more quality. We need to try and get more confidence into the team. This wasn’t an outcome that we wanted.
‘We have to try and get things moving the right way quickly. There’s no two ways about it.
‘We should be winning this game. I think Jagiellonia are a decent team and I think they’ve got some good players, and I think they’re well coached.
‘But Rangers at their best, Rangers, as strong as they can be, should be winning this tie.’
McInnes started the night with a back three, before taking off Thelo Aasgaard at half-time and reverting to a back four.
He insisted that was purely a tactical decision due to Aasgaard’s lack of involvement but Rangers looked worse for the change.
Rangers didn’t do enough over the 90 minutes to warrant going through, admitted McInnes
The reaction from supporters at the end was vitriolic and was comparable to the atmosphere this time last year under Russell Martin.
McInnes now faces a must-win League Cup tie against St Mirren at Ibrox on Sunday afternoon as he desperately tries to get his reign up and running.
Asked about the reactions from fans at full-time, he said: ‘I think it was justified to be honest. It wasn’t good enough. What we served up throughout the second half wasn’t good enough.
‘We’ve got to be honest with that, we’ve got to own it. It wasn’t good enough over the 90 minutes.’
