When Danny Röhl walked into the dressing room at Rangers F.C. in October, few people expected the dramatic story that would follow. The club had just moved on from Russell Martin after a difficult spell, and fans feared the season was already slipping away in the race for the Scottish Premiership title.
At the time, Rangers looked disjointed. Performances were inconsistent, confidence appeared low, and there was a growing sense that something wasn’t right behind the scenes. Many supporters believed the squad had quality on paper, but the results simply didn’t reflect it. That was the situation Röhl inherited the moment he arrived at Ibrox.
But what happened next is what has people talking now.
According to former Celtic and Scotland defender turned pundit Charlie Mulgrew, Röhl’s first impressions of the Rangers squad were far from what many expected. In fact, they were reportedly shocking.
Speaking on the popular football show Open Goal, Mulgrew revealed that he had heard the German coach was stunned after taking a close look at the players he had to work with. The biggest surprise? The amount of money that had already been spent to assemble the squad.
Over the summer, Rangers had invested heavily. Permanent deals were secured for players like Youssef Chermiti, Bojan Miovski, Oliver Antman and Djeidi Gassama. On top of that, loan signings such as Max Aarons, Nasser Djiga and Jayden Meghoma arrived to add depth and quality across the pitch. From the outside, it looked like a squad capable of challenging at the very top.
But according to Mulgrew, what Röhl saw in those early days didn’t match the price tag.
The pundit explained that the manager reportedly struggled to believe that around £20 million had been spent on the group of players he had just inherited. For many coaches, that kind of first impression could easily create tension or even panic inside the club. Instead, Röhl chose a different route — and that decision may have saved Rangers’ season.
Rather than publicly criticising his squad, the German quietly got to work. Training sessions reportedly became sharper, the tactical approach changed, and players were pushed to adapt quickly to a clearer system. Slowly but surely, results began to improve.
By the time the January transfer window arrived, Rangers were already showing signs of life again. The club moved decisively in the market, bringing in reinforcements that fit the manager’s vision. Players like Rommens and Chukwuani began to catch attention, while others added balance and intensity to the team. Even with some uncertainty around the future of Andreas Skov Olsen, the squad looked far stronger than it had a few months earlier.
Now, Rangers find themselves sitting second in the league table — a position that seemed almost impossible when Röhl first arrived.
But the real bombshell came at the end of Mulgrew’s discussion.
After explaining the manager’s shock at the squad, Mulgrew revealed something that many fans hadn’t heard before. According to him, Röhl initially told people close to the club that he genuinely couldn’t believe the level of the squad compared to the money spent — and that he felt major changes would eventually be needed.
However, Mulgrew added one crucial detail that changed the entire story.
Despite those doubts, Röhl reportedly said he believed he could still turn things around if the players committed fully to his system and if the club backed him with smarter recruitment. In other words, the manager didn’t see the situation as hopeless — he saw it as a challenge.
That belief is now beginning to show on the pitch.
Looking ahead to the summer, Rangers are already preparing for another important transfer window. With Max Aarons expected to return to his parent club and uncertainty surrounding long-time captain James Tavernier, reinforcements at right-back and in attack are likely to be high on the agenda. The club is also believed to be targeting players who can thrive in Röhl’s preferred 4-2-2-2 system.
But if Mulgrew’s revelation is anything to go by, the most fascinating part of this story is what happened behind closed doors when Röhl first arrived — a moment of disbelief that may have sparked the rebuild that is now pushing Rangers back toward the top.