Rangers manager Derek McInnes has warned the club's big-money new signings that they must learn to live with the suffocating expectation levels at Ibrox.
The club announced the signing of £8.5million Korean winger Minsu Kim last week and are expected to unveil £9million Portland Timbers forward Kevin Kelsy before Thursday's transfer deadline. The demands for both players to justify their costly transfer fees were already high before Thursday's Conference League clash with Jablonec.
However, the shock penalty shoot-out defeat to the Czech side, which means Rangers will miss out on group stage action for the first time in nine years, will place an even heavier burden on the new pair. The disconsolate Light Blue support is desperately searching for a saviour.
McInnes demands quality
That might be a tough ask for two men who have not yet had time to unpack their suitcases, but McInnes admits Rangers do not have time to waste after a brutal first month of the campaign.
He said: "Yeah, but we're bringing them in to help the team and help others here. So hopefully, by bringing much-needed quality, it helps everybody.
"There's no two ways about it - fans need to see more quality. I'm looking for a bit more quality, and hopefully, with that quality, it brings others on as well.
"When you carry a big fee, as you do when you play for Rangers, you've got to deal with that. That's part and parcel. That's why we bring them."
Difficult start
Rangers have not been able to deal with much of what has been thrown at them so far. Seven games into his tenure as Ibrox manager, it is hard to describe McInnes' start as anything other than a nightmare.
With only two wins from seven games so far, the beleaguered boss takes his team to face former club Aberdeen on Sunday in desperate need of a victory. That is easier said than done with so many of the Rangers squad woefully out of form and displaying the same flaws that led to last year's sudden title race collapse.
Asked what can be done to salvage the current campaign, McInnes said: "Well, that's the job of a manager. I don't think we played particularly well on Thursday. I've been expecting us to be better in possession of the ball.
"We had worked on building the game in a three, with midfield dropping in, working the spaces, getting into wider areas, playing on the outside of shape, and then being positive from then on in.
"But we weren't good enough at that, and we weren't good enough to really get control of the game.
"It came down to them enjoying the game a bit too much.
"I do think that they managed to find that extra man in midfield at times when we jumped to press, and a lack of communication made things a bit more difficult.
"They had chances in the first half. I was a bit surprised at just how poor we were in possession of the ball as well."
Penalty heartache
A 1-0 defeat in Bohemia cancelled out the slender lead Rangers had taken with them from the first leg, leaving McInnes hoping to sneak through on penalties. But there was only cruel luck for young forward Findlay Curtis and left-back James Penrice as their missed spot-kicks sent Rangers tumbling out.
McInnes is convinced both men will bounce back from their Czech heartache. "Yeah, it's a sore point," he confessed. "It's a low point for us all, to be honest. But hopefully I've tried to convey that it's not on them now.
"Once it goes to penalties, we don't have the advantage of the finances we've got as a club. We don't have the advantage of playing for 50,000 fans. It goes out the window.
"We had enough time to show that advantage in the match.
"They are two boys who are going to have good careers, and hopefully good careers at Rangers. It has been a tough start, as we mentioned, but the intention is to try and make sure we have the outcome that we all want.
"We've got to knuckle down and get a win now at Pittodrie on Sunday, and just try, slowly but surely - and hopefully with some new signings - get back to winning ways as quickly as possible. Until we do, we're going to feel pretty miserable."
