Chris Jack: Mark Allen’s time in blue is no case of black and white for Rangers

Reading between the lines, maybe he was the right man at the right time and that type is now no longer required.

With the words of @ID10 above it looks to be for the best that he’s ,over on and we search for someone more suitable for the role
 
He’s not well liked amongst people I know

Loves himself, is extremely rude & patronising - treated many members of staff like absolute shite. Man managed absolutely everything, way outside his remit even to point he wanted to manipulate tours etc

Failed to deliver many promises he made on signings then subsequently failed to correct these issues, these are ones he pushed for

He has cost us deals for players by being poor & elusive to deal with

Caused issues on the training pitch & in the dressing room (Celebrating with players etc - travelling on team bus)

Openly leaked information to carry favour & was subsequently cut out of deals to stop stuff being leaked

Amongst some of the things I have heard directly from people about him & I have long spoken about this & the fact this would come to an end

Personally, the dealings I have know of I am delighted he is gone

There are amongst my reasons for not liking him

Now I’ll also add this, Mark Allen was in the squad photo on Thursday afternoon

By 5pm that evening he was away

What sort of person, who knows he’s leaving, (for family reasons) sits in those pictures? You can make up your own mind to whether or not you think that family reasons is true etc


Allen undoubtedly did good things, to suggest he done them properly or people will lose sleep over him leaving are entirely different


People can make up their own minds on this also, but the article above is hardly praise for Allen & that’s from an extremely Rangers Friendly journalist with club based connections (Rangers must find a replacement and an UPGRADE)

Allen put Gerrards name forward, King then took it on. He oversaw a rapid turnaround & uptake - he wasn’t terrible but he certainly isn’t irreplaceable either

We move on

(I have praised Allen where praise is due, I have maybe even been too generous of that in earlier days - that changed rapidly the more I found out)
That does make him seem very vain and I did find it strange that he was always celebrating with the coaching staff in particular the times we made it to the group stages of Europe just seems to crave attention that isn't totally warranted
 
A very good article

Perhaps people will read between the lines on it
I think I'm going to be thinking the same as you here and that this journalist, being a "friend of the club"and getting the narrative out there early proves it.
 
I don't agree that a DoF shouldn't be in the public eye. His closeness to the first team and the management/coaching staff is crucial I think.

IMO the only way that the role can fulfill its true intentions (continuity in player recruitment and footballing philosophy from manager to manager) can only be achieved with the DoF being front and centre of the club.

Mark Allen never hid - and I liked that about him. We are a fickle support and if he had been totally anonymous we would have been calling for his head a year ago.

The article although decent is speculative and correct in one thing - only time will tell exactly how effective he was in the role. Until then we can only guess - the same as Chris Jack has just done.

Hopefully we get a superb replacement and one that pleases the Gaffer.
I don't get this part and it's a problem Ihave with the whole concept of the DoF.
What if it's the philosophy that is the problem?
How many managers will we go through before realising this?
To me it's jus another layer of management.
Some parts of the role are a neccesity but, to me, some are the manager's job.
 
I drive a taxi and on Saturday night after a charity event at the Radstone Hotel I spoke to 2 different hires who attended, they told me when Kriss Boyd was asked about Mark Allen he said '' when he left man city they had a leaving party and he wasn't invited, and that it would be the same at Rangers "I wasn't there but 2 different set of people said the same thing, interesting if true.
 
When he came our footballing department was a shell. He rebuilt it

He rebuilt our squad

Hiss work was done. Time for someone different.
 
I thought it was a tad strange when I seen him on the pitch joining in the celebrations following the Legia Warsaw victory.

Thought nothing more of it at the time though.
 
I don't agree that a DoF shouldn't be in the public eye. His closeness to the first team and the management/coaching staff is crucial I think.

IMO the only way that the role can fulfill its true intentions (continuity in player recruitment and footballing philosophy from manager to manager) can only be achieved with the DoF being front and centre of the club.

Mark Allen never hid - and I liked that about him. We are a fickle support and if he had been totally anonymous we would have been calling for his head a year ago.

The article although decent is speculative and correct in one thing - only time will tell exactly how effective he was in the role. Until then we can only guess - the same as Chris Jack has just done.

Hopefully we get a superb replacement and one that pleases the Gaffer.

I agree GG. The DoF, the manager, the kitman and even the wee woman who makes the tea can carry out their role in whatever way they choose as long as it brings results.

In football, the end definitely justifies the means.
 
That’s why we won’t have a DoF, we will have a Technical director who’s remit won’t include First team as that will be SGs dept.

Who will be involved in finding the future manager. Surely not the board of directors after the shambles they've been through?
 
For those of us who don't know can someone knowledgeable explain the role of Technical Director and where it would fit with us? Particularly what would Gerrard get out of it, didn't we have a TD before and why don't we have one now?
 
The crucial detail being that it’s speculative, much like most of the shite that gets posted on here about him. I’m sure ID10 has a genuine reason for his opinion given his connections but since he never divulges the info on why he holds that option (no issue with that btw) I can’t say much.

But from the outside looking in, he did a reasonably good job and I wish him well. I’ll leave speculative pish to the media and the zoomers here.

You're a right piece of work.

You complain about people speculating about MA then at the same time give him credit while admitting, "from the outside looking in". A bit of speculating by yourself?

I notice also you aint too keen to argue against connected posters such as ID10. You're so transparent.

Hope you read Kris Commons' article and hope you were able to read between the lines. ID10 suggested this so you wont want to challenge this, will you?
 
Sorry GG you little or nothing about his role if you think it is ok for him to be on the training field with players or on the park celebrating with them after victories.
These things were his downfall and did not go without notice of SG. I think in time you may even hear of the real tensions in the Gerard and Allen camps.
Any manager worth his salt will not allow interference in his territory at any football club

On the back of the comments attributed to him in the Clubs announcement last week, Gerrard came out on Saturday with the quotes below. It seems clear Allen was a ‘difficult’ man but I’m not having this stuff about ‘tensions’ between the pair leading to Allen leaving. Gerrard is effusive in his praise of what the man achieved - at a time when he needn’t have offered any more than a few platitudes.

Steven Gerrard says he will play a role in finding a replacement for departed director of football Mark Allen .

The Rangers boss addressed the departure of Allen after watching his side beat Livingston 3-1 and insists he was eager for the Welshman to stay.
Allen played a pivotal role in the Ibrox side’s on-field rebuilding but left for family reasons after 27 months at the club.

Gerrard said: “It doesn’t change things for me in terms of my role and the day to day stuff. Of course there is a void there at the moment.

“Mark has been brilliant for me, he has given me incredible support. He sold the job for me, not that it needed selling. He was the one who came and got me so I appreciate the opportunity from him.

“But I totally respect and understand his decision, he has been away from his family for two years. He came in at a time at this club when it needed shaking up, he was the one who shook it up and get it to the point it is at now.

“I would have wanted him to stay around a bit longer to be honest of course but everyone has their time and Mark has decided he wants to go back to his family, I respect that.

"In terms of whether the club put similar type person in that role and how long that is going to take, they are questions you will probably have to ask the board. Will I be involved in the process? Probably.”

Gerrard admits there’s no timeframe on bringing in Allen’s successor but he believes they’ll be big shoes to fill.

He said: “I’m not in any rush, the club need to decide whether they want a technical director in and if the right person is out there. If they can find the right person, that is the main thing.

"There is no point filling it with just someone because I am sure there will be a queue for it. It has to be the right person, someone that compliments everything and all the hard work Mark has done. From where it was when he walked in the door to where it is now, he has done a hell of a job.

“He will always be my friend, and I enjoyed working with him. I have only good words to say about him.

“If you look at where the squad was and the team was to where it is now, I think he has completed the mission the club asked him to do. We all have to respect his decision, that’s the way it is.”
 
Who will be involved in finding the future manager. Surely not the board of directors after the shambles they've been through?

This is a point we should be wary on.

Gerrard was Allen's idea, and although he was brought in in part to think more creatively about football related hires, ultimately his departure can be viewed as another appointment the board have not got right.

Can we be sure the next one will be better?

As others have suggested, I can see Gerrard having an input into whoever replaces Allen and to what extent, but that in itself will sit uneasily with the idea of the board having an overriding football strategy whose structure is designed to transcend managerial appointments.

Interesting times indeed.
 
Thank you for your comments on Mark Allen ID10, I only met him once and was not impressed with him at all, I believe everything you have said about him, the guy is a w#nk

His interviews gave me the same impression though some posters on here dont count interviews apparently.
 
Agree with that too.
It’s important keeping SG and his backroom team sweet.

Anything in that rumor about Ross Wilson being interested this time FBB?
Or just hear say…
Wilson is highly unlikely, would cost way too much and he's already knocked back Dave King once, very few people get a second chance with our chairman.
 
He’s not well liked amongst people I know

Loves himself, is extremely rude & patronising - treated many members of staff like absolute shite. Man managed absolutely everything, way outside his remit even to point he wanted to manipulate tours etc

Failed to deliver many promises he made on signings then subsequently failed to correct these issues, these are ones he pushed for

He has cost us deals for players by being poor & elusive to deal with

Caused issues on the training pitch & in the dressing room (Celebrating with players etc - travelling on team bus)

Openly leaked information to carry favour & was subsequently cut out of deals to stop stuff being leaked

Amongst some of the things I have heard directly from people about him & I have long spoken about this & the fact this would come to an end

Personally, the dealings I have know of I am delighted he is gone

There are amongst my reasons for not liking him

Now I’ll also add this, Mark Allen was in the squad photo on Thursday afternoon

By 5pm that evening he was away

What sort of person, who knows he’s leaving, (for family reasons) sits in those pictures? You can make up your own mind to whether or not you think that family reasons is true etc


Allen undoubtedly did good things, to suggest he done them properly or people will lose sleep over him leaving are entirely different


People can make up their own minds on this also, but the article above is hardly praise for Allen & that’s from an extremely Rangers Friendly journalist with club based connections (Rangers must find a replacement and an UPGRADE)

Allen put Gerrards name forward, King then took it on. He oversaw a rapid turnaround & uptake - he wasn’t terrible but he certainly isn’t irreplaceable either

We move on

(I have praised Allen where praise is due, I have maybe even been too generous of that in earlier days - that changed rapidly the more I found out)

I’m inclined to believe that this ^^^^^ is pretty accurate.

I’m not reading into this that anyone, including you ID10, is saying Allen did a terrible job. My take on all of this is that he did an ok job but seemed to have an out of control ego that may have caused him to overstep the mark somewhat.

I think we can all agree that the improvements in Auchenhowie and around Ibrox are good news. How much of that was Allen and how much was Gerrard, we may never know. But you’re post makes a number of very interesting points, particularly the quite revealing issue of him plopping himself into the squad photo, hours before he got out of Dodge.

Anyway, I’m not going to be over critical of him, because he does seem to have been reasonably competent at his work. However, the necessary “upgrade” comment in his article is one I’m now persuaded is needed.
 
I don't think it will be a DoF going forward, I reckon it will be a Technical Director sanctioned only by SG to do the non footballing side.
 
I said to my cousin that I thought it was cringeworthy as fk he was on the track after the Spartak game; that he must have made a conscious decision to start making his way down from the Director's box to trackside minutes before the final whistle to join in the celebrations like a member of the first team training staff. It all seemed pretty weird.

He done it at every single game.
 
He’s not well liked amongst people I know

Loves himself, is extremely rude & patronising - treated many members of staff like absolute shite. Man managed absolutely everything, way outside his remit even to point he wanted to manipulate tours etc

Failed to deliver many promises he made on signings then subsequently failed to correct these issues, these are ones he pushed for

He has cost us deals for players by being poor & elusive to deal with

Caused issues on the training pitch & in the dressing room (Celebrating with players etc - travelling on team bus)

Openly leaked information to carry favour & was subsequently cut out of deals to stop stuff being leaked

Amongst some of the things I have heard directly from people about him & I have long spoken about this & the fact this would come to an end

Personally, the dealings I have know of I am delighted he is gone

There are amongst my reasons for not liking him

Now I’ll also add this, Mark Allen was in the squad photo on Thursday afternoon

By 5pm that evening he was away

What sort of person, who knows he’s leaving, (for family reasons) sits in those pictures? You can make up your own mind to whether or not you think that family reasons is true etc


Allen undoubtedly did good things, to suggest he done them properly or people will lose sleep over him leaving are entirely different


People can make up their own minds on this also, but the article above is hardly praise for Allen & that’s from an extremely Rangers Friendly journalist with club based connections (Rangers must find a replacement and an UPGRADE)

Allen put Gerrards name forward, King then took it on. He oversaw a rapid turnaround & uptake - he wasn’t terrible but he certainly isn’t irreplaceable either

We move on

(I have praised Allen where praise is due, I have maybe even been too generous of that in earlier days - that changed rapidly the more I found out)

Cheers for the insight.
 
He can’t swim, he attracts enemy radar, he attracts sharks, he nudges players when they’re trying to shoot, he always insists on sitting at “The Captain’s Table”… he mucks about. Imagine… the fear… when you go to sleep with Mark Allen as DoF and think “Oh God, when I wake up, will everyone be dead?” You can’t run a club like that.
 
A rough translation:

He was hard to like
He struggled to offload players
He bought in too many players of dubious quality
The club now revolves around SG, there is no 'top duo' any more
He did some good work though

Surely Gerrard could have said no to the players he didn't want?
 
Surely Gerrard could have said no to the players he didn't want?

I think ID10 and others have hinted at this: many at club wanted the 'twin leaders' thing to work but weren't impressed at all but MA's dealings...NOW we will see SG getting only the players he wants - good or bad.
 
I always cringed when I seen him on the pitch. I thought the DoF was a board room position rather than a coaching team role, so expected him to sit in the directors box.
I do think that whoever takes over has an easier start, as the infrastructure seems to be in place, where as MA had a blank page.
 
I’m inclined to believe that this ^^^^^ is pretty accurate.

I’m not reading into this that anyone, including you ID10, is saying Allen did a terrible job. My take on all of this is that he did an ok job but seemed to have an out of control ego that may have caused him to overstep the mark somewhat.

I think we can all agree that the improvements in Auchenhowie and around Ibrox are good news. How much of that was Allen and how much was Gerrard, we may never know. But you’re post makes a number of very interesting points, particularly the quite revealing issue of him plopping himself into the squad photo, hours before he got out of Dodge.

Anyway, I’m not going to be over critical of him, because he does seem to have been reasonably competent at his work. However, the necessary “upgrade” comment in his article is one I’m now persuaded is needed.
Apart from what he's written @ID10 didn't think Mark Allan did a terrible job?
 
I think ID10 and others have hinted at this: many at club wanted the 'twin leaders' thing to work but weren't impressed at all but MA's dealings...NOW we will see SG getting only the players he wants - good or bad.

Not ideal is it? If Liverpool come calling tomorrow Gerrard will be off. The whole point of the DOF idea was to make transition easy between each manager without it affecting the philosophy etc.

Some of the most popular players in the support are guys Mark Allen identified and brought to the table - ie, Katic and Kamara.

It seems to be a case of any good players = Gerrard and any players who don't work out = Allen's fault.

When you are shopping in the bargain basement (generally - which we have been since Allen came in) and there's huge turnovers of players, it's virtually impossible that you won't pick up a few duds along the way.
 
I think Mark Allan did a good job; the job he was given to do wasn't easy, obviously, but overall many of his decisions appear to have made sense, notably the recruitment of Gerrard. He deserved for Gerrard's words to be the final word after he left.
 
I always cringed when I seen him on the pitch. I thought the DoF was a board room position rather than a coaching team role, so expected him to sit in the directors box.
I do think that whoever takes over has an easier start, as the infrastructure seems to be in place, where as MA had a blank page.

Imagine anyone thinking the Director of Football would sit there.
 
Thanks for the info ,

Doesn’t sound great , He certainly wasn’t very good at trimming the squad that’s plain to see.
I do concur in one thing. He shouldn't be anywhere near the training pitch,surely that should be a no go.He should be going about his business as quietly as possible. In that regard he does come across as full of himself.
 
I do concur in one thing. He shouldn't be anywhere near the training pitch,surely that should be a no go.He should be going about his business as quietly as possible. In that regard he does come across as full of himself.

What's wrong with him coming down and watching the lads training? He'll love football just like the rest of us. I'd probably love to go and watch them training as well everyday if my job allowed it.

It's a different story if he's down at the training field and trying to stick his nose into the training sessions etc but simply watching them? What's the problem with that?
 
More than once SG was asked about loan deals etc in press conference and he gave out what turned out to be inaccurate answers.

I think those answers gave a hint that there may have been some disconnect somewhere in the player personnel department.
Bottom line was it looked like SG wasn’t really on top of day to day operations.

Wouldn’t surprise me that the next DOF may have some connection to SG.


Listen to SG comments closely from weekend. He specifically says Technical Director. I'd expect that to be the working title going forward, cutting out the being involved with deals aspect.

I fully expect an internal appointment with either Andy Scoulding or Craig Mulholland taking the role of Technical Director.
 
Coming soon to a tabloid near you, a regurgitated negative Rangers clickbait story.


He knows what has been behind the scenes at Ibrox which the vast majority on this forum or off it (me included) don't know anything about the goings on, so I'd say I'D10 ain't far off the truth so until anyone can REALLY ACTUALLY say any different then he will be the gauge to his leaving.
 
What Gerrard has said, publicly at least, definitely go’s against the narrative being built by journalists against him.

I listened to last nights Flagship H and H pod. The impression is Allen was taken by the idea of Gerrard and liked being around him, Gerrard wasn't fully returning the favour and was not really fussed if he left. If Gerrard wanted him to stay, he'd have stayed
 
As @ID10 has mentioned his manner and behaviours towards staff at times was shocking and bordering on oppressive at times. Staff at the HTC stifled due to fear of losing their job. What I would say is that he did bring in a more professional outlook at HTC which was badly needed. As the article indicated his failures outweighed his successes. Let's just say that the biggest smile you are seeing at the HTC just now is the person who smiles the least. Hopefully he will go to pastures new and leave things as they stand.

Who was he stifling? As far as I can see the youths are performing well and it's encouraging that we may have players breaking into the first team squad in the near future.
 
He knows what has been behind the scenes at Ibrox which the vast majority on this forum or off it (me included) don't know anything about the goings on, so I'd say I'D10 ain't far off the truth so until anyone can REALLY ACTUALLY say any different then he will be the gauge to his leaving.
Not arguing that. More a comment for the scavenging 'journos' scouring the forum for something to write.
 
I think ID10 and others have hinted at this: many at club wanted the 'twin leaders' thing to work but weren't impressed at all but MA's dealings...NOW we will see SG getting only the players he wants - good or bad.

I think so too, Barker and Jones were signings Allen had chased for some time, so we can safely say they were Allen signings with SG approval.
 
I listened to last nights Flagship H and H pod. The impression is Allen was taken by the idea of Gerrard and liked being around him, Gerrard wasn't fully returning the favour and was not really fussed if he left. If Gerrard wanted him to stay, he'd have stayed

Gerrard has been quoted - see my post above - saying he’d have liked Mark Allen to stay longer. It was an interview he didn’t need to give - and certainly not in such detail - so I’d suggest the comments he made were both genuine and truthful.

I think Allen’s problems lay outwith his relationship with Gerrard.
 
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