Derek McInnes has warned Rangers supporters not to expect instant success as he prepares to lead the club into a new Scottish Premiership season, saying no title will be handed to them and that hard work alone will make the difference.
McInnes becomes the sixth Rangers manager to take charge on the opening day of a league campaign in as many years when he walks out at Tannadice to face Dundee United.
He pointed to his work at St Johnstone, Aberdeen, Kilmarnock and Hearts as evidence that he can get the best from players, and his five years as a Rangers player in the 1990s, combined with his background as a supporter, give him a familiarity with the club that some predecessors lacked.
But he was quick to caution against complacency, noting that Giovanni van Bronckhorst and Philippe Clement, both title-winning managers at other clubs, were also regarded as sure things before their spells at Ibrox ended without another championship.
"Just because you wear the badge and play for a club like Rangers and work for a club like Rangers, it does not guarantee you anything," McInnes said. "You have to guarantee the togetherness, the work rate, being good enough to win games of football week in, week out."
"No one is going to give us a title, no one is going to give us trophies. We have to work for it. It is the work rate part of it, the commitment part of it, that will make the difference."
Last season's pain as motivation
McInnes said he intends to remind his players of the suffering they endured last season before the opening match, stressing that nobody at the club should feel comfortable if results are not coming.
"It's not a place to be enjoyed if you're not winning," he said. "You shouldn't be comfortable at Rangers if you're not winning. We've got to feel uncomfortable if we're not winning."
He added that while the new campaign represents a fresh start, he still wants the squad to carry forward the memory of what went wrong. "We've still got to remind them that we don't want to have the same feelings that they went through last season," he said.
McInnes turned Rangers down in 2017, opting to remain at Aberdeen, but said his hesitation at that time stemmed from concerns about how the club was functioning. He did not repeat that hesitation when the offer came this time, moving quickly from Hearts after Rangers' American ownership made their approach.
Rebuild still under way
Despite adding South African defender Olwethu Makhanya to a squad that already includes Lawrence Shankland, Cammy Devlin and Dan Neil, McInnes acknowledged his rebuild is not complete and that his side go into the match at Dundee United short of full recruitment targets.
He refused to offer that as an excuse, however. "I don't want to make any excuses," he said. "We are more than capable of going up there and getting a positive result. There's no excuse if we don't win."
He noted that Dundee United hold an advantage having played four competitive games already, but said Rangers' overall resources more than offset that.
Rangers have failed to win their opening match in each of the past three seasons, with managers Michael Beale, Clement and Russell Martin all finding that a slow start proved difficult to recover from.
McInnes said he is determined not to follow that pattern. "I know what needs to be done. I am determined to do that. I do not want to let anyone down," he said. "I want to enjoy being the Rangers manager. I want my players to enjoy playing for Rangers. We can only enjoy it if we are winning."
