Rangers: Alex McLeish ‘can’t understand’ transfer call as tip-off ignored
Rangers finished behind both Celtic and Hearts this season, but things could have been a lot different had the club previously listened to Alex McLeish.
Danny Rohl‘s side finished in third place in what was a dreadful campaign, eight points behind Hearts and a further two adrift of Celtic.
In what was supposed to be a three-way battle to the end, the Gers ultimately saw their hopes evarporate with a few games still to go.
A number of factors are to blame, not least a lack of cutting edge in the games where it truly mattered for Rangers.
And as the dust settles on the 2025-26 season, McLeish has opened up on what he believes was a bad transfer failing from the Light Blues.
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Lawrence Shankland would have made a difference for Rangers
Hearts skipper Lawrence Shankland was one of the players of the season in Scotland and came within minutes of a magical title success.
The Scotland international has long been linked with a move to Ibrox, not least 12 months ago prior to signing a new deal at Tynecastle.
| Lawrence Shankland | 2025-26 Scottish Premiership |
| Games (starts) | 29 (28) |
| Goals/assists | 16/3 |
| Expected goals (xG) | 11.32 |
| Goals from inside the box | 14 |
| Goals from outside the box | 2 |
That seemed like the time for Rangers to pounce for a free agent forward who ticked pretty much every box, including the fact he is Scottish.
Kris Boyd this week urged Rangers to go after Shankland, as well as boss Derek McInnes, after this season’s failure.
And former Gers boss McLeish is in agreement, having previously personally recommended him to the Glasgow heavyweights.
“I can’t understand why they never went for Shankland,” he told The Herald. “I told a pal of mine who is a big investor at the club that they should go for him a few years back.
“He told me, ‘They don’t want to sign players who are over 26’. They were bringing in young players with potential sell-on value from overseas and I can understand the logic behind that.
“But some of the boys who have come in have just not been at the right level.”
Shankland scored 16 goals for Hearts in the 2025-26 Scottish Premiership season and assisted a further three in 29 appearances.
Rangers transfer failings made clear with Shankland snub
Like many Rangers fans, McLeish was calling for the club to sign Shankland a good few years back now.
That pretty much reached fever pitch a year ago as the 30-year-old reached the end of his Hearts contract.
As a reminder, Rangers could have had a player in their ranks who contributed directly to 19 goals this season – and all for no fee.
Instead, Rangers spent an astronomical sum on Youssef Chermiti, who in fairness did end the season with 20 goal involvements.
A Chermiti-Shankland partnership would surely have been enough to fire Rangers to the title, but instead too many of the new recruits just failed to find any sort of rhythm.
Age should not matter in this type of scenario, if indeed that was the case. Signing a player for an eight-figure sum, as could be the case with Chermiti’s final fee, is different.
It may well be that Rangers and Shankland finally cross paths one day, but it seems as though that ship has now sailed.
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