Ruthless Rangers must axe sentimental touch as Ibrox fans pay £60m price of transfer failure

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As Rangers prepare to enter a new era at Ibrox, there can be no room for sentimentality.

In a domestic season where Rangers once again fell short, the club’s exasperated supporters had only two things to shout about in Scotland all year; an away win at Celtic Park, thank you Barry Ferguson, and Aberdeen’s Scottish Cup victory over Celtic, thank you Sir Alex.

Whilst you won’t hear it being uttered much around Ibrox, this was a season of turning points in the eternal battle with our Old Firm rivals.

The Dons stopped Celtic’s trophy record creeping to 121, keeping Rangers (118) within two pieces of silverware against their rivals, but they could not stop the Ibrox side relinquishing their title as football’s most successful club in 24/25.

This is a devastating blow to a club which has survived the excruciating onslaught of the last decade plus with ‘the most successful club in football’ mantra ringing out around the stadium.

It’s too soon for Celtic to consolidate that title – Rangers hold out hope it may only be temporary – but for those culpable, a sharpened Ibrox axe dangles ruthlessly.

• READ MORE: Rangers confirm plans to face potential Champions League Playoff foes at Ibrox

Rangers pay the price of extreme hesitancy in transfer market

The American buyout signals the start of something new at Ibrox and Rangers are in dire need of freshness.

In fact, hanging on to the old has been less like a delusional relief to the club and more like a shackle around its ankles.

Ianis Hagi became the latest player to leave Rangers under a cloud of transfer controversy, banking the club nothing for his exploits a la Ryan Kent, Alfredo Morelos, Filip Helander and the rest.

Rangers have been scared to move players on over the last few seasons and paid the ultimate penalty. For a near £60m spend, we’ve recouped only £500k.

The message has been we’ve been lucky to have them – yes the same players who let us down time and again – rather than them being lucky to play for us.

It’s an attitude that has stunk the place out.

One of the single most important aspects of Andrew Cavenagh’s leadership must be a ruthless willingness to move on players, even in their pomp, if it’s the right thing for the club.

We’ve lacked the necessary foresight and self-belief to scale Rangers up to size and only by effective player trading will we close the on and off pitch gap with Celtic.

A failure to heed the lessons of the past now will only see the gap, in terms of trophies and playing power, widen in the next few seasons.

Ruthless Rangers must cut stragglers from underperforming squad

Whoever takes over at Ibrox is inheriting a Rangers squad in something of a mess.

It’s stuffed full of overpaid, underperforming players the bulk of whom have lacked the personality and attitude to wear the jersey. There are still a number of sizeable losses to be cut.

Ben Davies, Jose Cifuentes, Rabbi Matondo, Ridvan Yilmaz, Robin Propper, Kieran Dowell, Nedim Bajrami, Oscar Cortes and Danilo are yet to prove worthy of a place. We’ll be lucky to recoup a fraction of what we paid for them.

There are others who wanted to cling on. Leon Balogun’s exit is raw and the big defender proved himself in a much better Rangers team. But Tom Lawrence, Neraysho Kasanwirjo and Rafael Fernandes will look back on their Ibrox careers with regret for different reasons.

The problems have run deeper than the players in recent seasons, but what we have is a mish-mash of footballers strung together through Ross Wilson, Michael Beale and Philippe Clement.

Some will remain. Most will go. But there can be no room for the sentimentality which has plagued Rangers pretty much since Dave King and co took charge.