Syme
Well-Known Member
Rangers director of football Mark Allen has explained how much of a say Steven Gerrard has on transfers at Ibrox.
Many clubs now have a director of football alongside a head coach or manager who is responsible for signing players.
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.
“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.
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.
Many clubs now have a director of football alongside a head coach or manager who is responsible for signing players.
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.
“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.
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.