James Bisgrove names Rangers Champions League priority as Ibrox chiefs consider their director of football stance

Rangers fell flat on their faces at Kilmarnock on Saturday but chief executive James Bisgrove insists Michael Beale's men are Champions League ready ahead of their first qualifier of the campaign on Wednesday.

Bisgrove has overseen a massive rebuild of Beale’s squad this summer with nine new faces arriving - and they flopped spectacularly in the Premiership opener in Ayrshire. But as Servette prepare to arrive in Govan, the CEO is adamant that the group of players Rangers have assembled are capable of competing in Europe’s top tier competition. If Gers lose to Servette or in the play-off round that follows, they will automatically drop into the Europa League group stage and the chief executive insists the team has the quality to have a real impact in that tournament if that’s how it plays out.

However, Bisgrove is adamant that Champions League football is the priority, saying: “Of course it’s important that Rangers strive to be at the top table in European football. I’m sure Michael and the team will be doing everything possible to navigate the Q3 round and, if that goes well, the playoff.

“I don’t think whether we’re in the Champions League or the Europa League group stage will have a material impact in terms of what we’re doing with the squad as we’re pretty much there now in terms of building a squad that we think can compete in the Champions League.

“Of course it’s not easy. We’ve got the test now against Servette and then you look at the potential teams we could play in the playoff. They are really difficult ties.

“But we hope that we’ve assembled a squad that Michael can be really competitive with in terms of getting to that group stage.”

Commenting on the possibility of Europa League football this term, he