Enormity, Latin disease and Rangers recruitment: Derek McInnes doesn't have hurdles to seek

The relentless demands placed upon you by fans and the board who expect to win trophies and for the team to produce high-level performances each week. The intense scrutiny that follows every decision, win, or loss is magnified. And surviving the Old Firm crucible by winning derby matches against Celtic, which can often define a legacy.

Three major factors that go a long way towards defining any manager who takes the reins at either of Glasgow’s ‘big two’. Then comes your understanding of the club, building a steely resilience and having a no-nonsense authority.

It’s for that reason Souness is acutely aware that new Ibrox boss Derek McInnes has to have the ability to cope with the “enormous” pressure that is just part and parcel of the job.

The former Hearts, Aberdeen and Kimarnock manager boasts vast experience and a background capable of handling such a big job, albeit dropped points against Dundee United on the opening weekend of the 2026/27 Premiership season and a summer of squad rebuilding show the scale of the task he faces to deliver instant success.

“I don’t think he’s turned up to be told it’s OK if you finish second,” Souness responded when asked if McInnes needs to win the Premiership title in his first season. “No Rangers manager would be told that, ‘Oh it’s OK if you finish second’. It doesn’t work like that. It used to be called Latin disease when I was a player, where managers got very little time. But that’s in the British game now as well. And it’s amplified here in Glasgow because finishing second is deemed a failure.

“That’s the price on the ticket if you’re managing one of the Old Firm. You either accept that on day one or you’re in for a very difficult period. Rangers have had a lot of managers in recent years because that’s the nature of the business. There are only certain leagues where finishing second is a disaster. It would be for Bayern Munich and it’s the same story in Spain. But it’s not the case in England. Finish second down there and it’s deemed a good season. That’s not the case up here.

“Derek obviously knows the football club having been there as a player. He knows Scottish football having been around the Scottish scene. He was successful at Hearts last season because if you ask any of their supporters what their year was like they’ll say it was disappointing in the end but they had a great season. That doesn’t apply at Rangers. So although all those boxes are ticked, he’ll find himself under enormous pressure that he’s never had before simply because of the nature of the job in Glasgow.

“I don’t know Derek personally, although I met him on the railway station platform at Preston one day. I think he was heading back up the road from a cruise and I was heading down south having done some work at Blackburn. Nice guy, really nice guy. And obviously he knows the task in front of him.

“He did a great job at Hearts but the lure of Rangers was clearly just too much. I can understand that too, because it was too much for me. I was leading my life in Italy, opening my curtains to the Mediterranean. And more than once I asked myself ‘what the f*** have I done?’.”

Too soon to judge Rangers this season

Souness has taken a critical view of Rangers recruitment in recent seasons and questioned the club’s transfer strategy. While he acknowledges it is too early to judge how Rangers will fare this term, he has emphasised the importance of rectifying their recruitment woes to give McInnes the best possible chance of succeeding in the Ibrox hotseat.

Providing his take on Rangers struggles over the last decade, the Rangers great conceded: “They’ve been disappointing. You can talk about the structures of a football club but the most important thing you have to get right is what goes on on the pitch. I think Rangers, in their recruitment, for a long period of time, have been under par.

“You can have every other part of your club working perfectly but if the Saturday isn’t right then none of that matters. You can have all your club underneath what happens on a Saturday being average. But if it’s working on the pitch then everything is rosey in the garden.

“The most important thing at a football club is recruitment and Rangers have not been very good at it in their recent history. Whoever is responsible for that should hold their hand up and say, ‘It’s down to me,’ but you don’t get that in football.

“I’m choosing my words carefully here but I think luck wasn’t with them last year when I look at decisions happening in other places. That’s all I would like to say on that but I think you know where I’m going. I also think you’d be very brave to make any call about any team right now. I say that simply because, at this time of year, what managers are looking to do is push their players to the point of breaking them without that actually happening.

“You push them and push them and every player gets fit at different times. Some players need one game, others need two or three. Some need five. So I wouldn’t make any call, other than they were disappointing to watch on Friday evening. But that doesn’t mean anything in the big picture.

“At Celtic, Martin has done a great job in steadying the ship. They are the team with their tails up as champions who have already opened up a two-point gap. But in the bigger picture, it doesn’t mean a great deal right now.”

*Graeme Souness was promoting Premier Sports’ coverage of Scottish football including over 80 matches from the Scottish Premiership, Premier Sports Cup and Scottish Cup. Fans can watch an entire season of football for only £99 using promo code FITBA26.