Keith Wyness slams Derek McInnes for 'stupid' Rangers decision: 'Absolutely no point'

Rangers manager Derek McInnes was wrong to publicly call out the need for new signings after his team's 1-1 draw at Dundee United last week.

That is according to former Aberdeen chief executive Keith Wyness, speaking exclusively to Football Insider, who believes that the boss had little to gain from going public with the issue.

This comes after the 55-year-old admitted that "the new signings need to come pretty soon," seemingly in a bid to try to force the board into further action.

However, Wyness is adamant that McInnes' statements were essentially pointless, and they would not have done anything to change the plans that were already in place behind the scenes.

Since that interview, the Light Blues have only added one more new face to their squad in the form of Daisuke Yokota from Hannover.

Wyness believes that by going public with his desire for signings, McInnes didn't open up to anything that the club and the fans didn't already know.

Derek McInnes should have kept issues behind the scenes

Aberdeen's former chief Wyness - who served as CEO at Pittodrie between 2000 and 2004 and now runs a consultancy business advising elite clubs - believes that McInnes should have just kept his grievances behind the scenes.

He labelled it as "stupid" when managers come out and make statements of that ilk, as he feels it can create more problems than solutions.

Speaking on the latest edition of Football Insider's Inside Track podcast, he outlined that the interview is another "black mark" against McInnes' early tenure at Ibrox.

"I think managers are stupid when they say this. I haven't been in this position because I've never had a manager do that publicly, because it makes sense to do all your talking and ranting behind the scenes," Wyness said.

"There's just absolutely no point in doing it. It makes no sense because plans will already be set. He will know that there is a lot of work going on in Rangers behind the scenes in terms of trying to sign players. 

"While the rant at the referee was almost for the fans, I think this is almost just for the fans as well. And it doesn't help in actually putting together a squad and getting things done behind the scenes.

"It's the crucial time of the year when you need to be working closely with your sporting director and your CEO to get those signings done, and he'll know what the budgets are. He'll have heard all these discussions before he came in.

"To suddenly pretend there's a whole new pot of money is pointless, and all it does is use up good political ground that you may need down the road, and so again I'm afraid his start has disappointed me in the way he's behaving, so, another black mark for McInnes in my view."

Rangers in hunt to sign Oguz Aydin

Football Insider revealed earlier this week that Rangers are plotting a move to sign Fenerbahce winger Oguz Aydin in the final stages of the transfer window.

McInnes is desperate to add another winger to his squad before the end of the window, and the Gers are now one of several clubs chasing Aydin's signature.

The 25-year-old appears set to become available in the coming weeks, after managing just five league starts for Fenerbahce last term.

Aydin notched three assists in 2025-26, and has also represented Turkey at senior level on 12 occasions.