Derek McInnes: Rangers manager backing himself to bring success after European failure adds to difficult start
Rangers will not compete in European competition for first time since 2017 after losing their Conference League play-off to Jablonec; they are five points behind Celtic in the Scottish Premiership after two games; watch Aberdeen vs Rangers on Sunday from 11am, live on Sky
Friday 28 August 2026 16:52, UK
"I am a good manager, I back myself."
Derek McInnes believes he can still bring success at Rangers despite mounting pressure after they failed to qualify for the Conference League.
The Ibrox side lost their Conference League play-off to Jablonec on penalties on Thursday night, leaving them without European football for the first time since 2017.
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Rangers are already five points behind in the Scottish Premiership title race after just two games, but McInnes is backing himself and the players to turn their season around.
"I'm not the first Rangers manager to get off to a tough start, but we are determined to follow this job through and it's the end that counts," he told Sky Sports News.
"I still believe we're going to be a success here, but we need to try and give a bit more encouragement to the supporters to buy into and get behind.
"I'd like to think I know what I'm doing as a manager. I'm a good manager, I back myself.
"At the minute, none of us are doing our job well enough and it's up to us to try and share that responsibility to improve things.
"I think the players need a wee bit of help and support at the minute, but equally we've all got to work that wee bit harder to find that."
Rangers return to domestic action on Sunday with a Premiership game away to Aberdeen, live on Sky Sports.
"I just feel as though we've wasted an opportunity to qualify for the group stages," the 55-year-old added.
"But we can't dwell on it now, it's done. I know football, you've got to get ready to go again and obviously a huge game on Sunday for us.
"We've not got the best record recently at Pittodrie, so we have to be ready for that one.
"European football is so important for the club, not just from a financial aspect but just from a prestige point of view, so we're all disappointed and gutted that we're not competing longer in Europe.
"But our full focus is on Aberdeen, the full focus will be on us this season domestically now and I do think we need to be a club that gets back to winning trophies domestically.
"When I first came in, I said that and maybe just concentrating on us domestically now gives us a better chance of that."
