Derek McInnes is uneasy about the length of Rangers' pause after the Celtic win. The full squad will not train together until Friday, 19 days after the derby triumph, and 13 players have been away on duty with their countries in the meantime.
The break and the missing players
McInnes said: "I’m not a fan of it to be honest." He added that the squad has been split across different federations, staff and travel, with players away for four games.
The concern is not about the derby result itself. Rangers went into the break on six straight victories, and the latest two were against Celtic in the League Cup and the Premiership. That run has lifted them back into the mix, but it has also made the interruption harder to ignore.
McInnes also said, "It's tough for the players to be away from their families, but equally for us there is a lot of nervousness about your players going into other countries' hands for so long."
The wait until Kilmarnock
The group will only be back together on Friday, the day before Kilmarnock visit Ibrox. By then it will have been 19 days since the Celtic game, a gap McInnes compared with tournaments for national teams.
That delay leaves Rangers trying to restart after a strong spell rather than build straight on from it. McInnes' frustration is clear, because the timing lands just as the team has put together its best sequence of results of the season.
He also revealed that he had lunch with Sir Alex Ferguson at the club's training ground, and Ferguson spoke about his own difficult starts at Manchester United and said it is how you finish a campaign, not how you start it. The immediate issue for Rangers, though, is simpler. They have six straight wins behind them, 13 players back from international duty, and a full-squad session only on Friday before Kilmarnock arrive.
Written by Sam Whitfield with AI-assisted research, cross-checked against 1 outlet. How we work →
