Derek McInnes Makes Brutal Rangers Admission Before Celtic Ibrox Showdown
The Rangers manager says his club are trying to become “relevant domestically again” — a remarkable admission before Celtic arrive at Ibrox.
Phillip Cooney 
Hearts head coach Derek McInnes during the William Hill Scottish Premiership match between Heart of Midlothian and Dundee at Tynecastle Park, Edinburgh, Scotland on 1 November 2025. ============================================= Use the following embed code to publish this image online: <smartframe-embed customer-id="1ffbae35d432d0d71911ca2a0b209fbb" image-id="prsistDUuY01" style="width: 100%;display: inline-flex;max-width: 2700px;aspect-ratio: 2700/2160"></smartframe-embed> More info: at https://smartframe.io/embedding-support/
Derek McInnes has made a brutal Rangers admission before Celtic head to Ibrox on Sunday.
Ahead of the Premier Sports Cup clash, the Rangers manager acknowledged Celtic’s recent domination of Scottish football before admitting that his own club want to become “relevant domestically again” when it comes to winning trophies.
That is an extraordinary choice of words.
Relevant again.
For all the noise, all the spending and all the annual declarations that Rangers are ready to challenge Celtic, their own manager has effectively admitted where the real benchmark in Scottish football remains.
Derek McInnes Rangers admission exposes the reality
McInnes also acknowledged that Celtic have been the main title winners and have collected more trophies than anyone else in recent years.
That is not a Celtic supporter boasting.
That is the Rangers manager admitting the reality staring everyone in the face.
Celtic have built a culture where trophies are expected. Rangers have spent huge sums trying to close the gap, yet McInnes now finds himself talking about simply becoming relevant again.
For a man who has never been shy about having a pop at Celtic over the years, that is quite a climbdown.
It also tells you plenty about where Rangers actually are.
They may have won a few games recently and the Scottish mainstream media may be desperately trying to build momentum around them before Sunday, but their own manager has effectively admitted they are still trying to get back into the conversation.
Celtic can make McInnes regret every word
McInnes has also called on the 50,000 Rangers supporters inside Ibrox to get behind his players.
That says plenty about the pressure surrounding his side.
Celtic will have no supporters inside the stadium, so Rangers have every possible home advantage.
Yet Martin O’Neill’s players should travel there remembering exactly what McInnes has said.
Rangers are trying to become relevant again.
Celtic are already where they desperately want to be.
That should be all the motivation required.
Go to Ibrox, beat Rangers, knock them out of the cup and leave McInnes explaining to 50,000 furious supporters just how close his side really are to becoming relevant again.
Celtic do not need to shout about being the benchmark.
Rangers’ own manager has effectively done it for them.
Rangers and Hearts were their own downfall last season. while Celtic struggled early on with poor results because of poor recruiting, Hearts were able to build what on paper should have been an unassailable lead after January. Then there was the Nancy debacle, which allowed Rangers to catch up. The lead Hearts had at that stage should have been enough to win the league. But they stuttered and stumbled to the finishing . Celtic caught up with emphatic wins over oldco and Hearts to clinch the title. All McInnes and co could do was cry about var decisions as excuses to losing the league , rather than look closer to home for their downfall. It looks like McInnes is starting early with the excuses. ” I told you so ” scenarios….Celtic won the league with one of the poorest squads in recent years. Rangers have spent god knows how much over past 2 seasons, yet Celtic are still the benchmark. A win for Celtic on Sunday and the govan hordes will be baying for blood..another loss the following Sunday and the brogues might be walking away from the crumbling old building.