Rangers dumped into Conference League as McInnes faces Ibrox boos

Derek McInnes's start at Rangers? Winless. A disaster. It hit rock bottom, or maybe it just kept digging, as the Ibrox side folded like a cheap suit to Polish outfit Jagiellonia Bialystok. The 41,636 fans packed in on Thursday evening watched it happen. Nik Prelec's second-half header, just ten minutes after the restart, was the final nail. Rangers had been chasing this tie since the first leg. They never caught up.

Lawrence Shankland gave them a flicker of hope. A spot-kick. VAR spotted Yuki Kobayashi's handball, no complaints there. Shankland slotted it, briefly putting the Glasgow club level. But that was it. No response. Nothing. McInnes's men scraped together a few chances before halftime—Thelo Aasgaard, Ryan Naderi. Fine. But a genuinely pathetic second-half show meant Jagiellonia took over completely. It was theirs for the taking. And they took it.

The manager, to his credit, admitted the jeers were deserved. Sky Sports got the quote: his squad just doesn't have the "depth and composure required at this level." He didn't mince words, saying, "The club is built for Europa League and Champions League but I'm not sure the team is quite ready for it." Frankly, the fans already knew.

Four games without a win. Now Rangers are dumped into the Conference League play-off round. Their next opponents? Czech side Jablonec on 20 August, back at Ibrox. This is their earliest European exit since 2017. An absolute low point. McInnes will tell you he's "desperate to reverse" it. But talk is cheap.