Mark Allen explains Rangers' transfer policy and Steven Gerrard's input on signings

Syme

Well-Known Member
Rangers director of football Mark Allen has explained how much of a say Steven Gerrard has on transfers at Ibrox.
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Many clubs now have a director of football alongside a head coach or manager who is responsible for signing players.
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After a big overhaul last summer there were questions over who had the final say on signings at Ibrox, but the director has revealed it's a bit of both at Rangers .
Allen told Rangers TV: "I think the most important thing for me is there’s no single point of decision.
“Just to qualify that: I don’t mean it’s a committee, what I mean is we bounce off each other.
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“There are a number of targets who are identified by the scouting department, those targets are evaluated against what we believe we need and ultimately a list is produced.

Those lists are discussed at length - looking at clips, going to watch the players, finding out as much as we can about their background.
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Then we’ll sit down with a very small group and plot through the priorities and almost rank the players in terms of first preference, second preference et cetera, because you’re never convinced you’re going to get a potential target over the line.
“Then ultimately myself and Steven will land on a point, and I’ll say this candidly - I will not sign a player Steven doesn’t think he’s going to play in his first team.
“We have a very open environment where obviously when you’re talking about signings you’re talking in terms of wages, transfer fees et cetera.
“So an open and honest policy has to exist where we’ll all comment on what we think are the pros and cons of any particular target.
So it’s invaluable, the physical input from Jordan Milsom, the coaching aspects from Tom Culshaw and Mick Beale, and Gary Mac is obviously vastly experienced in terms of players and playing at certain levels and being able to cope with the environment.
“Those are all factors in terms of looking at it for myself and Steven, and obviously Andy Scoulding plays a big part in that as the head of scouting.”
Rangers have already signed up Steven Davis, Jordan Jones and Jake Hastie for next season, as Allen tries to get a squad in place early on.
He added: "Everyone’s aware when the transfer window opens and closes so the only business you can conclude before are players who can join you who are out of contract or on Bosmans.
So I would look at that as the low-hanging fruit, our job is to make sure that not only our squad is strong and capable of mounting the challenge that we want to make, but ultimately this about adding some quality to the existing quality we’ve got.
Like in any season there’ll be players who come in and players who go, but the reality is the transfer window isn’t open officially yet, so other than the Bosmans there’s nothing we can do that this moment in time.
“I don’t think it’s a secret to say we’re looking at somebody in that attacking midfield area who can bring us a little bit of joy toward the top end of the pitch.
 
Also nice to see that the media are having to take the quotes from in house media rather than giving them the stories directly. Same with the Michael Beale H&H interview earlier in the week
 
I like how open we are - I like we treat people as grown up football watchers.

People are hidden and sheltered ala Ally do it because they don’t really value their own belief

If you back your work you show your balls and back yourself

I’ll always back someone if I see and understand what they want to do or buy into what they are trying to do
 
For some one like me, all this DOF and his staff, plus SG. is not a new thing this is the norm at all the big and small clubs across all football, I guess the Tims have other things on their mind, at this time?
 
It sounds as if they have a good working relationship. We have had some disappointing signings but that always happens in football, overall we have got a lot of bang for our buck and the "not a committee" have done really well. One thing I would like to see happening next season is that any players we take on loan come with an option to buy. There are two advantages to this approach firstly it filters out players who don't really fancy being here (like Ovie) and second it gives us a chance to sign players who improve while on loan (like Kent). Maybe I am being a bit unrealistic and we have to accept that sometimes the only way we can sign quality in certain areas is to take them on loan from a richer club without an option.
 
It sounds as if they have a good working relationship. We have had some disappointing signings but that always happens in football, overall we have got a lot of bang for our buck and the "not a committee" have done really well. One thing I would like to see happening next season is that any players we take on loan come with an option to buy. There are two advantages to this approach firstly it filters out players who don't really fancy being here (like Ovie) and second it gives us a chance to sign players who improve while on loan (like Kent). Maybe I am being a bit unrealistic and we have to accept that sometimes the only way we can sign quality in certain areas is to take them on loan from a richer club without an option.
You can only ask and your points are valid.
 
If anyone isn’t a subscriber to Rangers TV I’d recommend you do so soon.

The amount of articles that have already come (and continue to come) from the likes of the video interviews posted on Sunday is actually quite funny.

You get to watch it come straight from the horses mouth too.
 
This should be made a a sticky for when folk start complaining and making up crap about who signs what players and asks what Allen actually does
 
As much as we finished on a high I'd like someone to explain considering we require players to make an instant impact how we spent 2M at least on a player who was injured and has remained injured for a fair part of his time here. However players are signed that's a dismal mistake.

That's joint failure. Let's be honest too with the league in a reasonably competitive situation we signed two older players who hadn't played much.

It's not been perfect to say the least and no one can expect perfection but I don't see a joined up strategy-we will be paying big bucks for Defoe and Steve Davis who clearly will need to dig deep next season to be effective over a whole campaign and we invested 3-4M on Grezda and Barisic whom the manager has been scathing about....dare I mention Lafferty too.....?

We should quite rightly be happy about the end of the season but the whole transfer picture? I'd say there's a lot to improve on.
 
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"There's no single point of decision".

"Just to qualify that: I dont mean its a committee. We bounce off each other".

"Low hanging fruit".

"I'll say this candidly. I'll not sign a player Steven doesnt think he'll play in his first team".

"but ultimately this about adding some quality to the existing quality we've got".

Some fine words there from Mark Allen. A top bloke and an essential factor in the factors required to take us to the next level of quality.
 
Has anyone else had the impression this season that Gary McAllister is, well, a bit of a peripheral figure at the club?

Or more so than you would have thought, at least?
 
I highly recommend that the people reading Marks words for the first time subscribe to RTV for £5 a month, this 20 minute interview has been available to watch since Sunday
 
Has anyone else had the impression this season that Gary McAllister is, well, a bit of a peripheral figure at the club?

Or more so than you would have thought, at least?

To be honest it never crossed my mind, why would you get that impression?. What is it he does (or doesn't do) on a daily basis that makes you think this?.
 
I've never seen this guy play but on the basis of that video he looks a quality player. Strong, good footwork and can score from distance.

Good shout mate.

Dack is brilliant, aggressive and has great feet and a wand of foot, still only 24. He is exactly the type we need.
 
We have came on leaps and bounds as this will be reflected on the park. Next season is going to be massive.
 
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