James Bisgrove shares brand new Champions League admission at Rangers
Rangers CEO James Bisgrove has said that Michael Beale has a Champions League-ready squad capable of competing on Europe’s biggest stage.
Both Bisgrove and Beale have been busy at Ibrox this summer, bringing in nine new signings such as Feyenoord’s Danilo, Cyriel Dessers and Jack Butland, while Glen Kamara and Fashion Sakala look to be following Ryan Kent and Alfredo Morelos out of the exit door.
Despite the Light Blues’ miserable start to the domestic season, which saw them lose 1-0 to Kilmarnock at Rugby Park, Bisgrove believes that Beale has a squad ready to compete in Europe’s premier competition at his disposal.
Speaking to Glasgow Live (7 August) ahead of Rangers’ qualifier against Servette on Wednesday (9 August), he said: “It’s important that Rangers strive to be at the top table in European football.
“Of course, it’s not easy. We’ve got the test now against Servette and then you look at the potential teams we could play in the play-off. They are really difficult ties.
“We hope that we’ve assembled a squad that Michael can be competitive with in terms of getting to that group stage. We’re pretty much there now in terms of building a squad that we think can compete in the Champions League.”
Time for action
The time for talking about transfer business has now passed at Ibrox, now it is time for the Rangers fans to see the fruits of this window’s labours on display to steer Beale’s side through to the Champions League group stages.
The nine players bought this summer have seen a complete revolution in Glasgow, but that was not then reflected on the pitch against Killie, where the team selected by Beale did not show the quality associated with the Champions League, or the re-energised tone he had promised.
Wednesday’s tie with Servette has to be won and convincingly as Beale has secured the services of almost every target on his shopping list this summer, and the team at his disposal is more than capable of qualifying on paper.
There is pressure building already at Ibrox this season, but it won’t take much more than a couple of good results for it to ease, after all, it does take time to get such a new group of players clicking with one another.
In other Rangers news, one journalist believes that Beale got his team selection wrong on Saturday