Rangers

Image source, Getty Images

New Rangers striker Kevin Kelsy is "hungry to make an impact" after joining Derek McInnes' side on a four-year deal.

The forward has spent the last 18 months with MLS side Portland Timbers but is "ready for this new chapter".

And Kelsy could start that new chapter with a debut on Saturday as Rangers host Motherwell in the Scottish Premiership.

"I've heard a lot about the club," he told club media.

"Even when I was younger, I saw the team in Europe. I know what the club means to the fans.

"I would love to bring some joy to the fans and the club, and score goals to bring amazing moments to the team.

"I know we have to win all the games and play well, and I'll be ready for this with my teammates. I'm ready for this new chapter in my life."

Manger McInnes already has high hopes for his new striker who will provide support for captain Lawrence Shankland.

"We're really pleased to welcome Kevin to the club," McInnes said.

"He's an exciting player with a lot of attributes, and what really stood out in our conversations is how hungry he is to make an impact.

"He'll bring real quality to an area of the pitch we have been keen to strengthen, and his arrival gives us another exciting option going forward.

"Kevin has a great attitude and a real desire to improve, and we're looking forward to seeing what he can bring at Rangers."

Image source, SNS

Striker Lawrence Shankland feels like a weight has been lifted as his goals helped Rangers pick up back-to-back Premiership wins for the first time this season.

The former Hearts forward scored the decisive penalty at Pittodrie on Sunday and both of Rangers' goals in their 2-1 win at Falkirk on Wednesday night.

That's now four goals for the 31-year-old, who had come under fire for his brief drought since joining his former boss Derek McInnes at Ibrox this summer.

"As a striker, you're always going to receive that kind of scrutiny when you're not scoring goals," Shankland said.

"Luckily, throughout my career it's something I've been pretty good at so I can always have believe for myself and back myself to go and get it eventually. And it was two too good finishes that I'm happy with.

"In the last couple of games the boys have started to look more like themselves and the boys are looking bright in the forward areas and obviously it comes with confidence as well.

"When you win games, everybody feels a bit more confident and the weight on your shoulders feels a bit less and you can go and perform more like yourself and I felt we've seen that and especially in the forward areas.

"The signs have been more positive the last couple of games but we're not going to get too carried away and we'll keep improving, and hopefully, keep winning games."

Shankland will be joined by Portland Timbers striker Kevin Kelsy, who has joined Rangers on an initial four-year deal.

And the Scotland international is looking forward to some healthy competition.

"He'll be a welcome addition to the squad and throughout the season we're going to need good players to turn up so hopefully he can come and do that and hit the ground running," Shankland added.

"As I said, obviously you want good competition, you want good players in your squad and that maybe allows us to play different systems at times, obviously the manager likes to change the team to one striker or sometimes two.

"Listen, the more options that we have the better and the quality throughout the squad needs to be good if we're going to be successful in the season."

Rangers fans, we asked for your views after Wednesday night's 2-1 win at Falkirk in the Scottish Premiership.

Here's what some of you had to say:

Carl: The three points is the important thing but there is so much more required, especially with the centre-back pairing. Emmanuel Fernandez needs to be benched, the attempted pass across the back in the second half would have been punished by a better striker. His all round performance since the start of the season has been poor and I'm being kind. He isn't the only one lacking though, could go on and on.

Ronnie: Another three points, another gutsy if not brilliant performance. Lawrence Shankland took a huge step towards convincing Rangers fans that he merits the captain's armband. Djeidi Gassama continues to impress and Ross McCrorie came off the bench to give a Ronaldinho impression. We still have lots of work to do but back-to-back wins is a start.

Fraser: Totally boring game, less than convincing. I switched it off half way through the second half. Gassama looked really up for it ,the rest were really toiling. We aren't going to beat Celtic on that performance.

Stuart: Another shaky performance but a win is a win. Falkirk did not deserve to lose but Shankland proved to be the difference. Surely Derek McInnes can no longer have faith in Fernandez, he has been poor this season and needs a huge wake up call. He has to realise that unless he changes his attitude he is a liability to his teammates.

Peter: Another nervy win, a game that could easily have gone either way. Two good goals from Shankland, we need someone reliable to feed him though. Sloppy play at the back again will cost us if not addressed. We are not out of the woods yet, far from it.

Gerald: To say I'm lost for words would be an understatement. Inept, lacklustre, spineless, unconvincing, disjointed, need I go on? We are again witnessing the demise of a team we were optimistic about being built with the funds made available. Someone has to be held accountable for the lack of quality being brought in. Derek McInnes is trying to convince himself, never mind us, that things are moving in the right direction. I dread to look at the next games never mind the future.

Watch all the highlights as Rangers managed a narrow victory against John McGlynn's Falkirk side in the Scottish Premiership. Available to UK users only.

Rangers made it back-to-back wins in the Scottish Premiership as Lawrence Shankland's superb double downed wasteful Falkirk.

Read our match report.

Have your say.

Image source, SNS

Rangers boss Derek McInnes tells BBC Scotland: "Pleased with the win, pleased with certain aspects of it. Our start was good - a brilliant goal from Lawrence - and we passed up one or two other opportunities.

"The pitch was difficult - very greasy and slippy. We invited unnecessary pressure on ourselves, no more than the equaliser. I thought Falkirk were the better team for a 15-minute period in the second half and we were fortunate not to concede.

"The characteristics and strength of the team to bounce back and get the win was brilliant, a lovely finish again from Lawrence.

"He passed up a really good chance, but he didn't let him affect him and his second goal is a lovely calm finish from such an important player. Delighted for him, delighted for the team to pick up another three points.

"We are looking for learnings and improvements as we go along, but as long as you can win games as you try to get better. It's no bad thing to win when you're not at your best.

"We can fine tune some of the attacking play, but we've got to not give too much encouragement to our opponents.

"It seems to have been the longest window I can remember - so much going on. For us now, it will do everybody good if we can get the window shut and work with what we've got. Players always settle a wee bit more. We've made some good signings, very young as you can see at times, but I'm confident we've got good talent here that can give us lots of encouragement between now and January and then see where we are.

"We've now got two home games against Motherwell and St Mirren and hopefully we can be as good as we were in the best spells today while making it more of a 90-minute performance.

"I'm just glad I'm able to choose [Nico Raskin] tonight. We can do with his experience in there. I thought he got better in the second half. Obviously delighted if we manage to hold onto him and it looks like we will."

Alasdair Lamont
BBC Sport Scotland Commentator

Derek McInnes said after Sunday's win at Pittodrie that he'd enjoyed his team's performance for the first time this season and it was easy to understand why.

It was really the first instance of Rangers displaying the required desire, hunger, guts - call it what you will - to claim an all-important maiden league victory. Dropping points again simply wasn't an option.

The win gave McInnes and the players a bit of breathing space and you could tell at full time what it meant to people like Lawrence Shankland to get that monkey off their collective back.

The attitude shown in that game is the bare minimum demanded by the supporters and they will hope to see that added to by some exciting, attacking football as the season progresses.

On the transfer front, with just a couple of days left in the window, the manager referred to bringing one more player in, widely thought to be the striker Kevin Kelsy.

Despite Rangers having done a massive amount of business this summer, there are still areas in which they look a little light.

Daisuke Yokota is their only natural right winger and although he has looked reasonably bright so far, supporters might have hoped he would be back-up to one of the club's other targets.

Minsu Kim has been brought in and it remains to be seen where McInnes plans to use him primarily but he showed up pretty well on his debut at Pittodrie playing just off Shankland. The Korean looks to be relatively two-footed and so could be used on either side as well.

Rangers had also been looking to sign a left winger, though the early-season form of Djeidi Gassama has perhaps lessened the need for that. The issue will be if Gassama is as inconsistent as he was last season. Like Findlay Curtis he can also be used on the right but both tend to be less effective there.

With the departures of Connor Barron and Lyall Cameron, the battle for a central midfield berth has become a little less congested, but if Nico Raskin does leave, is there sufficient quality there to win a league title?

Dan Neil and Cammy Devlin both had arguably their best games in a Rangers shirt at the weekend but are they or any of the other candidates for those positions going to dictate a game in the way Callum McGregor has done for Celtic for many years?

And then defensively, the lack of a left-sided centre-back leaves them a little lop-sided, though Olwethu Makhanya has operated well there so might well find himself playing there at least until January.

But as McInnes acknowledged, he has been well backed this summer and regardless of how much more is done before the transfer window closes, he should be able to assemble a team capable of building on that first league victory and challenging for the title.

Image source, SNS

A move to Turkey or the Saudi Pro League remains open for Rangers midfielder Nico Raskin should a suitable bid arrive, while there is interest in Norway for Ibrox team-mate Thelo Aasgaard. Rangers Review - subscription required, external

Image source, SNS

On-loan Wolverhampton Wanderers winger Conor McLeod has joined Falkirk's injury list after aggravating a knee injury on his debut.

Keelan Adams, Ethan Laidlaw, Aidan Nesbitt, Finn Yeats, Craig Sibbald, Finn Yeats, Joe Gardner and Tom Lang will also all miss out at home to Rangers in the Scottish Premiership on Wednesday.

Rangers midfielder Nico Raskin has missed the last two games amid transfer speculation.

Striker Youssef Chermiti is out long term with a cruciate ligament injury and left-back Tuur Rommens is sidelined for a number of weeks with a groin problem.

Image source, SNS

Lyall Cameron has headed back to Tayside, with the former Dundee midfielder joining city rivals United on a season-long loan from Rangers.

The 23-year-old was a youth with United before switching to Dundee, where he made 120 first-team appearances, winning international honours with Scotland Under-21s.

But he has played only 10 times for Rangers, half of those as a substitute, since signing for the Glasgow club last summer and spent the second half of last season on loan to Aberdeen.

United manager Jim Goodwin told his club website: "He's no stranger to this city and has tasted a lot of success here in his career to date, but he comes from a family of United fans and wants to make his mark in a Tangerine shirt.

"We think he will really complement our midfield options and also add that know-how of the club and of the area that he can pass on during his time here."

Cameron, who had loan spells from Dundee to Peterhead and Montrose, made 17 appearances for Aberdeen, all but four of them starts, but has not played since his return to Ibrox this summer.

Now, promising to "create chances and score goals and hopefully get the fans off their feet", he is excited about the prospect of making his United debut in Wednesday's Scottish Premiership visit to Motherwell.

"It's no secret my family are United fans, so I'm looking forward to be playing at Tannadice in front of the home supporters soon," he added.

Image source, SNS

• The previous Premiership fixture between the clubs saw Rangers come out on top 5-2 at Falkirk last season. Youssef Chermiti netted a hat-trick, while Djeidi Gassama and Thelo Aasgaard also found the net. Calvin Miller scored with a penalty in the 44th minute for the Bairns. They also benefited from an own goal by Rangers' Jack Butland.

• Rangers are unbeaten in the past four Premiership matches between the two clubs. A win for Falkirk would be their first against Rangers in the league since March 2016. During that period, Rangers have outscored the Bairns with 12 goals for and six against.

• Hosts Falkirk lost their only previous Premiership contest at The Falkirk Stadium this season. The Bairns have a three-match Premiership home losing streak dating to May 9 against Hibernian. Rangers have one win and one draw away from Ibrox this season in two league contests. Rangers are on a three-match away unbeaten streak.

• In three league matches this season, Falkirk have one draw and two losses. Rangers, meanwhile, have one win, one draw, and one loss.

Image source, SNS

Cammy Devlin admits he had to use all his "resilience" to bounce back from red-card hurt early in his Rangers career.

The Australia midfielder, who followed manager Derek McInnes to Ibrox from Tynecastle earlier this summer, was sent off in the first leg of Rangers' Conference League play-off tie against Jablonec.

McInnes' side won that game 1-0, but then lost by the same scoreline in the Czech Republic before being knocked out of Europe on penalties, which Devlin missed through suspension.

"I hate letting my team down and felt that was something I did there," Devlin said.

"I was absolutely devastated. People have seen me play for long enough now, I wear my heart on my sleeve.

"I work as hard as I can every day to be the best version of myself, the best player, the best team-mate.

"I have been brought to Rangers, something I'm so grateful for, so I'm doing everything in my power to do well myself but also help bring success to what is such a good team with good players.

"So for that to happen, and the way it happened, the still [photo] of it looks much worse if you actually watch the moment.

"We had the ball, I actually hit my head so I don't remember too much about it. I was so upset for that to happen, I am so desperate to do well.

"You have to show resilience in the tough moments and that was another one for me."

Devlin returned to the heart of midfield for a much-needed 1-0 win at Pittodrie on Sunday.

"Given the opportunity to play from the start on Sunday – I don't care if I play five minutes, one minute or 90 minutes I just want to play as well as I can," he said.

"I really wanted to do well and didn't care if I was the worst player on the pitch, I just wanted to win."

Tyrone Smith
BBC Sport Scotland Senior Reporter

Image source, SNS

Dundee United assistant manager Lee Sharp says things are ongoing over a potential move to sing Rangers midfielder Lyall Cameron on loan.

The 23-year-old has found game time hard to come by at Ibrox after moving there from United's rivals Dundee last summer, making just 10 appearances in all competitions for Rangers.

He spent the second half of last season at Aberdeen and he could head out on loan again, with United keen.

"I just know it is ongoing," Sharp said.

"If we managed to get him it would be a great addition to the squad with what he brings.

"Technically he is a very good player, he is one you would have looked at whatever team you were playing. If he was in the opposite team he is one you would have highlighted as a danger in terms of how he plays.

"So it is exciting times if we can get him in.

"His professionalism, his attitude and how he goes about things - it will be a good one if we can get that one done."

Meanwhile Sharp has admitted midfielder Vicko Sevelj was a player they didn't want to lose.

Despite their efforts to keep him, the Croatian midfielder departed earlier this week, joining Azerbaijan top division side Neftci PFK for an undisclosed fee.

"He has been excellent, the two years he has been here he has been really really good and a great lad as well," Sharp said.

"The club had done what they could to try and keep him, they had offered him a new contract, we weren't wanting to lose him but he wanted to explore that option he had."

Jamie Currie
Fan writer

It's been a horrible start to the season for Rangers.

Player recruitment has been slow, the European campaign - if you can call it that - was nothing short of disgraceful, and Derek McInnes has been throwing mud at the wall to see what sticks with his team selections, substitutions and formations.

Sunday's game against Aberdeen was what I expected McInnes' team to be from day one. Rangers were solid and got over the line - hopefully it's a platform to build on rather than an outlier.

The only two players to impress in attack were Kim Min-Su and Djeidi Gassama. Kim looked like he wanted to be the fulcrum of the side and Gassama was lively.

I felt referee Matthew MacDermid got all the big decisions right, although the usual contrived nonsense online has started with regards to Kevin Nisbet's disallowed goal.

There were two incidents in there - a shove on Dujon Sterling and an offside, so it was rightly ruled out.

This win of comfort and solidity has to be built on at Falkirk on Wednesday and hopefully we will see some more players join before the window closes.

We have been heavily linked with a striker, plus we need another right winger and two midfielders. There is plenty to do to get this squad anywhere near the quality required.

Striker Kevin Kelsy was undergoing a medical on Monday before his expected move to Rangers after a deal worth around £9m was agreed with Portland Timbers last week. (Sky Sports, external)

Former Rangers captain James Tavernier has agreed to join Maccabi Tel Aviv, who are managed by ex-Ibrox striker Kenny Miller. (Fabrizio Romano, external)

Tuesday's Scottish gossip