Rangers chief executive Patrick Stewart has revealed that the club are in the process of appointing a sporting director.
The move comes on the back of a review into the football department with Stewart insisting that the introduction of the sporting director is “the most significant action” the club could take.
“We identified the need to appoint someone who has responsibility for the entire football operations throughout the club,” he said.
“We are now in the market for a Sporting Director.
“That role will put someone right at the top of the football tree; an experienced football person who will be responsible for all aspects of the football club to ensure they’re working together towards fulfilling our holistic joined-up plan.
“If you look at the each of the elite European football clubs, most of them will have a single person that is responsible for the entirety of the football operations.
“We are something of an outlier by not having that at the moment, so that’s why we’re going to that model.
“Nils was brought in to do player recruitment and when there were some senior departures in the football area he stepped up and brought some stability and leadership.
“I’m really grateful to him for doing that.
“Nils has performed really strongly in player recruitment, and we can see the results of that with the players that we have at the moment.
“He is someone who I rate really highly, but the Sporting Director will complement his role as it will allow him to focus on what he was hired to do, which was to recruit players and, in a wider context, squad planning.
“This will give some breathing space to do that and it will really complement and give him the ability to do that.”
Stewart has maintained that the club recruiting the correct candidate will be vital in leading the club to success on and off the park.
He continued: “I’m not going to put a set timeline on it because this is about getting the right person that is going to be the best solution for Rangers in the long-term.
“It means we will, if necessary, wait to get the best candidate and not just jump to the one that is available at the earliest opportunity.
“That said, it’s really important that we continue with process while we’re waiting for the right candidate to start.
“We’re going to make sure that the Sporting Director recruitment process dovetails with the review so that we don’t need to undo anything that we’re currently putting in place at the moment and progress can continue to be made.
“I expect the external support on the football review to taper down as the season tapers down, but the football review will not ever end. This is about constant evolution.
“We started this review to kickstart that process, but, again, if we’re going to compete then we need to, like any elite football club, be constantly improving.
“The Sporting Director will come in and continue to drive that improvement, and over the next few months there will be further actions that are implemented and some of those we will share with the supporters over the coming weeks and months as they emerge.”
On his confidence that the correct steps will be taken to help deliver sustained success at the football club, Stewart added: “The board are committed to ensuring long-term success for the football club.
“One of the tangible steps that they’ve taken is appointing myself as CEO who is empowered to operate the club day-to-day, and also an independent Chairman who is here to support me in that respect.
“As part of this, I am reviewing everything that we’re doing and taking the necessary steps to ensure we’re getting the foundation stones correct.
“It’s going to be tough – and I don’t want to shy away from that – but if we do the right things in the correct order I am confident that we’ll get there and there will be long-term success for the club.
“And by success, just to be clear, I mean winning, not coming second.”
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