Former Rangers defender Craig Moore, a little bit butthurt at his man Kevin Muscat not getting the Rangers gig ahead of Philippe Clement, has attacked Rangers’ board for ‘taking too long’ over appointing a Sporting Director, despite the fact the new manager requires to mull such a position over and offer his analysis and input first.
Speaking on Go Radio, the Aussie ex-Ibrox defender, who has made fleeting appearances on Rangers TV here and there, was scathing in his assessment of the board’s timescale for the Technical Director, and believes the position should have been filled as soon as possible after Ross Wilson left.
He said:
“They need one. They absolutely need one and what they don’t need is an administrator. They need someone with football experience. It should never have taken this long, because it’s an important role. And I think it’s an important role at any football club. I had a discussion with Ally McCoist early, early when Michael Beale first got the job and we talked about a director of football. Coisty thought that wasn’t the most important thing. It’s players, get the players in for the manager. This was my concern at that particular time and it’s something that’s come back to bite Rangers in the bottom, unfortunately. They didn’t have that in place, they spent a lot of money and the person should have been in there. You still need to have protection for the football club. That for me has been lacking since Ross Wilson has left and it’s a position that 100 per cent needs to be filled.”
There is a lot to digest in here, so we’ll begin with his modest dig at Ally, saying that Ally was wrong to prioritise players over a Technical Director – well, no he wasn’t. Ally was quite right, the problem was Michael Beale was the wrong manager to bring those players in.
Secondly, Ross Wilson was an absolute disaster of a Sporting Director – last summer year’s window wasn’t much better than this one was. Under his stewardship we signed Ben Davies, Rabbi Matondo, Malik Tillman, Antonio Colak, Ridvan Yilmaz (plus Sands, Zukowski, Ramsey and Diallo). Here we are over a year later and not one of them is a regular or fit and most have gone, for right or wrong.
So if Moore is claiming a Sporting or Technical Director is an infallible and vital role based on Wilson’s performance, we’ll have some of what he’s on.
Furthermore, it’s clear that Rangers have waited for Clement’s view first. That they had to appoint the manager first, then work on appointing a Sporting Director the manager was happy working under. It’s one thing to have a SD, quite another that the manager actually works well with.
Clement’s input on the new man is vital, and you can’t appoint a SD without consulting the manager about his views on the right man.
Moore is just attacking because Muscat wasn’t picked, it’s nothing more complicated than that.
He’d have chosen his words a lot more gently if his man was in the hotseat.
As it is, all in good time, Craig.