Rangers aim to appoint a Director of Football by mid-November as the search for a football boss at the head of the club nears its end.

New manager Philippe Clement is very much in favour of this position being filled – in his managerial career, the Belgian has never dealt with recruitment and that side of the sport doesn’t really interest him.

What he wants is a squad he can work with, and for his job to be tactics, formations, selections and systems – in short, he wants his boots on the ground and himself and his management staff dealing directly with the players.

He doesn’t want the recruitment of players to be part of his work too.

Rangers fans remain used in many senses to the ‘Walter Smith’ and ‘Dick Advocaat’ days of yore where our manager would be the main man dealing with new players, scoping them, negotiating and ultimately convincing them.

Michael Beale, of course, gave that approach a go but really wasn’t very good at it at all, and Giovanni van Bronckhorst suffered a Director of Football who himself had rather bad judgement.

Rangers have learned a lot from the mistakes of the past – appointing a top-quality manager who knows exactly what he is doing, and now following that football model and seeking out a Director of Football.

This was a position Ibrox Noise was formerly against, but these days it’s about what the manager himself wants.

And if he would prefer a suit above him who deals with that stuff, all the better.

As for who, well a few names have been in the frame – two major Brighton men of course in Sam Jewell and David Weir, while one or two others have also been dropped in.

But the biggest one is probably still former Monaco DoF Paul Mitchell, who has worked heavily with Clement before in France.

And if that’s who Clement would like to deal with again, we say Rangers should pull out the stops to bring him in.