Former Manchester United and England star Wayne Rooney reckons Rangers are heading in the right direction under Derek McInnes – after learning the lessons from Celtic.
The Ibrox side have been active in the market so far, bringing in five new signings in the form of Lawrence Shankland, Dan Neil, Ben Godfrey, Ivor Pandur and Ross McCrorie.
All five have buckets of experience of British football – while Shankland and McCrorie are boyhood supporters of the Ibrox club.
Thrown in the return of goalkeeper coach Allan McGregor and kit man Jim McAlister and there’s a real sense of understanding the club’s culture which wasn’t always apparent as part of the Danny Rohl era.
That’s in contrast to Celtic, where the likes of Callum McGregor and Kieran Tierney have been constants, not to mention Martin O’Neill, Shaun Maloney, Mark Fotheringham and Stephen McManus in the coaching team.
Former Premier League star Rooney told BBC Scotland:
“If Martin [O’Neill] was there for the whole time, Celtic win the league, nice and easy, but Del has gone to Rangers now and he’s a very, very good man-manager and he brings out the best of people.
“Looking at what he does and how he deals with his team, he’ll bring in some more Scottish people, English-based people, that understand the club and the culture as well, which, to be fair, I think Celtic’s done really well over the years.”
Quizzed on the ultimate destination for a crucial Premiership title race in which only the winners will have a shot at the Champions League, Rooney added:
“I think it’s going to be a three-legged race yet again.
“I think Hearts have been an actual delight for Scottish football.
“They’ve done really, really well. I thought Derek did a fantastic job and Martin’s come in at the right point in time.”
Celtic, meanwhile, have finally sealed their first new signing of the summer after completing a stunning £6m swoop for Camilo Duran from Qarabag.
The Hoops were the last Scottish Premiership side to enter the transfer market since the window opened, with rivals Rangers already announcing five new faces and Hearts bringing in eight.
