The biggest announcement for Ibrox Noise in terms of a positive comment that came from the 49ers statement came in the form of a massive update regarding a certain aspect of recruitment. That is to say that the Rangers Sporting Director announcement that Ibrox Noise has been wanting and objecting to for years will indeed take place.
Sporting director stance
When Dave King announced years ago that a sporting director was going to be an essential part of the club moving forward, Ibrox Noise did not endorse that. We did not want someone above the manager sticking their grubby fingers into the matters that the manager should be dealing with. While most managers will be positive about sporting directors, nevertheless, seeing the likes of Ross Wilson or Kevin Thelwell being far too hands on with playing matters, signing matters and everything else that really should be the remit of the manager left a sour taste, as covered in this investigation. Yes, Mark Allen was just as bad at this as well, even if Steven Gerrard was always positive about he and Wilson.
Why Ibrox Noise opposed it
Nevertheless, sporting directors have been something that Ibrox has been against for years. We do not believe in them. We believe it is a corporate position for someone who wants to be a manager but is not good enough, so sticks their grubby paws into stuff that they really do not have a clue what they are doing. Kevin Thelwell, of course, was an absolute disaster of a sporting director and was rightly sacked, as detailed here. We are still dealing with the damage that he caused. Ignore those three performances by Youssef Chermiti, where he actually looked like something resembling a £2M striker for once, even although he was, of course, £11M. The fact is that Thelwell signed little but junk last summer and wasted a lot of Rangers cash, something even discussed in pieces like this.
The new recruitment structure
Consequently, the club has announced there will never be a sporting director under them. They have completely abandoned the search for a sporting director. Now, we already know that Dan Purdy is essentially in that kind of position. He is chief recruiting staff and is the head of that whole department, but he will have nothing to do with selection, tactics, coaching, training and so on. Purdy will be all about recruitment. He and, of course, Thelwell’s son Robbie. Consequently, the abandonment of an official sporting director is something that we totally get on board with. We never wanted one.
And we are glad that after a bit of a pointless search, the club has decided to reject the whole idea, a move also reflected in wider reporting like this. Dan Purdy will fulfil those certain obligations that we suppose a sporting director may have done, but we do have a few misgivings about him, given he was a big part of last summer recruitment. He was also a big part of this winter recruitment. Consequently, the jury is very much still out on him, but we are very glad that sporting director has been ditched for good, with further coverage in outlets such as this and even the club own messaging here.