Rangers could have got Derek but they blew it

“You’re Aberdeen. You’ll do as you’re told. We’ll see you soon Del.”

Sadly, this tweet was deleted shortly after Derek McInnes rejected the chance to become Rangers boss during the week.

How ironic that it was the Ibrox fans left feeling a bit sheepish?

But when you read it, you had to admire the arrogance. And you know what? At that point, that arrogance looked 100 per cent right.

After all, if this was the Rangers of old, a deal for the guy they wanted as manager would have been done.

It has been the way of the Scottish football world throughout my lifetime. It’s our game’s natural order.

If one of the big two want a player or manager from a so-called lesser club, they take them. There was no stopping it.

McInnes’ and Aberdeen’s refusal to budge last week changed that.

And while the make-up of the current Ibrox board is intact, Rangers as a club better get used to it.

With a chairman in Stewart Milne and a millionaire director in Dave Cormack, the Dons have some serious money men in power.

Some would argue, even more so than Rangers.

So they were never going to just roll over and have their belly tickled by one of the Glasgow giants like before.

Therefore, Rangers had to go about their pursuit of McInnes as methodically and as competently as they possibly could.

Make no mistake here, they COULD have got their prime target.

Despite his loyalty to the Pittodrie club, this is a guy who was born and bred a Rangers supporter.

His family, including his young sons, are still living just a 20-minute drive away from Ibrox.

And after defeats to both Celtic and Rangers, McInnes must have felt that this might just be the right time to move.

He wouldn’t have missed training for two days of showdown talks with Milne if that decision wasn’t preying on his mind.

So the opportunity for Rangers was there. And they blew it, resorting to a club statement when they were knocked back by McInnes.

Who they go for now is the question fans will be asking.

But the real poser should be this. Just how badly treated by the club he grew up idolising must McInnes have felt to knock it back?

Seriously, that should send a shiver down the spine of every Ibrox supporter.

And it’s a major worry for them going forward.

For four days now, the Aberdeen gaffer keeps repeating the phrase about refusing to ‘rip up a contract and tarnish the relationships’ he has built up at Pittodrie. Which begs the important question, what exactly were Rangers asking him to do?

Were Dave King and Co effectively adopting the same approach as that cheeky tweeter towards Aberdeen?

“If you’re a proper Rangers man and want to be our manager Del, just tell them you’re giving it up and get down the road. We’ll sort out the compo you owe them later.” Who knows? But if that was symptomatic of their attitude, it stinks to high heavens – and it’s no wonder McInnes decided to stay put.

Rangers lost their ability to throw their weight around when they financially imploded and were on the brink of becoming a footnote in Scottish football history.

The road back to where they - rightly - believe they should be will require a bit of humility, professionalism and class.

Unfortunately for their supporters, those are three qualities that the current Ibrox hierarchy appear to be devoid of.

They were never going to have their belly tickled by one of the Glasgow giants like before