Derek McInnes vowed to turn things round but acknowledged the sense of frustration from the Rangers supporters after his winless with the club continued on Sunday.
McInnes watched on as his team were beaten 2-1 by Hibernian in their first Scottish Premiership match of the season at Ibrox Stadium.
Josh Campbell’s 12th-minute penalty had put Hibernian a goal up, with Rangers’ misery further compounded when Youssef Chermiti was stretched off with an injury.
However, the hosts thought they had salvaged a point in the 85th minute when Miguel Chaiwa turned Djeidi Gassama’s cross into his own net, only for Callum Wright to net a stoppage-time winner to stun Ibrox into silence.
It’s been a difficult start to life in Glasgow for McInnes, who was brought in to replace Danny Rohl after almost guiding Hearts to the Scottish Premiership title last season.
Rangers drew their opening game of the season away to Dundee United before losing 2-1 in the first leg of their Europa League third round qualifier against Jagiellonia Bialystok, with the second leg up next Thursday.
“It’s damaging in the sense that we came here to win, and we expect to win,” McInnes told BBC Sportsound.
“It was really harsh on us. I felt we were the better team. Sometimes in life, in football, you don’t get what you deserve. We deserve far better than what we got.
“There were some positives and I liked the way my team never gave up, they kept going for the win.
“What we’ve got to do now is just dust ourselves down because that was a blow for us. The response of the team in the latter part of the game was terrific.
“We probably need to play a bit more like that more often in terms of playing forward, engaging with our strikers quicker, playing at a better tempo. It was all a bit laboured.
“I share the frustration. It’s been 15 years here of frustration, built up for a number of years. The one title the club did win was when no fans were there, so the fans have not even seen their club win a title.
“I’m determined to get this right and I believe we will get it right. It’s not been a good start for us, we understand that.”
Full-Time at Ibrox.
Rangers 1 – 2 Hibernian pic.twitter.com/Qq2HFUBoGM
— Rangers Football Club (@RangersFC) August 9, 2026
McInnes will want to get the fans back onside quickly, with the early part of his tenure already drawing comparisons to Russell Martin’s short stint with Rangers last year.
Rangers failed to win any of their first five league games under Martin and were eliminated from the Champions League in the qualifying rounds, resulting in the former Southampton boss’ time at the club lasting just four months.
But there were some signs of promise for McInnes to hold on to. Rangers finished the match with an expected goals (xG) total of 2.05 from their 25 shots, though only nine of those were on target, compared to Hibernian’s 1.74 from their eight attempts.
McInnes, however, insisted that his Rangers team were “not as bad as people think”, adding: “We were guilty of passing up opportunities in the first half and not playing forward enough.
“When the ball did go into our strikers, we were far more effective, and I felt the equaliser was deserved, and we wanted to win the game. I can’t fault my players’ effort.
“There are little things going against us at the minute, but we have to stay strong, we’re not as bad as people think.
“At the minute, we are trying to work boys back to the same level of fitness and trying to manage that situation.
