The SPFL season has returned with Derek McInnes at Rangers, and that alone gives the new campaign an immediate edge. After a summer shaped by anger, disciplinary fallout and fresh frustration, the old arguments around the Old Firm are already back in focus.
McInnes’s move from Hearts to Rangers matters because it changes the tone of the title conversation before a ball has really been kicked. He arrives at a club that lost the Scottish Cup to Celtic in March, and he also comes in with a score to settle in a rivalry that rarely needs extra fuel.
Why McInnes changes the temperature
There is a simple reason this appointment feels significant: Rangers have not just changed manager, they have changed the mood around the season. McInnes has gone from Hearts to Rangers on a four-year contract, and that switch instantly puts him into the centre of the biggest pressure point in Scottish football.
The Old Firm rivalry is always intense, but this feels like one of those moments when the backdrop matters as much as the football itself. Celtic’s title-clinching clash against Hearts on 11 June led to a disciplinary process over a pitch invasion, and that outcome only deepened the sense of grievance around the league.
Ian Maxwell also captured the atmosphere when he dismissed parts of the reaction as “hysterical commentary”. That phrase tells you where Scottish football is right now: emotionally charged, argumentative and already carrying the weight of decisions that happened before the new season began.
Anger has carried into the new campaign
This is not just about Rangers and Celtic. Hearts supporters were angry over the disciplinary process, while Motherwell and Hibs are part of the wider picture of clubs trying to make their mark in a season that already feels loaded with noise.
Hibs, for example, lost 2-0 in the first leg of European qualifying in Kosovo last week, another reminder that disappointment has not been confined to domestic matters. Add in the wider frustration after a poor World Cup, and the opening weeks of the Scottish Premiership already feel like they are being played in the shadow of broader discontent.
That does not mean the football will suffer. If anything, it may sharpen the stakes. Rangers will be judged quickly, Celtic will know the standard they must keep meeting, and clubs such as Hearts, Motherwell and Hibs will be looking to turn background tension into momentum.
What comes next in SPFL
The next phase of the season will reveal whether McInnes’s arrival is the start of something more substantial or simply the latest twist in a rivalry that keeps finding new ways to intensify. For now, though, the message is clear: the SPFL has resumed with more than just fixtures to discuss, and Rangers have put themselves at the centre of it.
