Nils Koppen names three Rangers priorities and hints at Auchenhowie return for familiar faces
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Rangers will continue to struggle on the park if Philippe Clement doesn't get the help that he needs off it.
The manager is only as good as the support he has in the boardroom, the structure of the club and the players he has in his squad, with the off-field issues and Ibrox shambles not helping his chances this season.
Clement isn't entirely blameless, but Rangers have taken a step to improve contingency planning with the appointment of Nils Koppen as technical director, a promotion from his current role as director of recruitment.
Nils Koppen appointed as Rangers technical director
Koppen will now oversee the entire football department and responsibility for the club's men's academy, medical, football operations, performance and analysis departments.
He will report to the new CEO – when they arrive – along with Clement and women's football managing director Donald Gillies.
In essence, Koppen's job has now merged with Creag Robertson's head of football operations role that he just vacated, having one figurehead instead of two.
What this should mean, is that Rangers fans start to see progress behind the scenes in terms of sorting out a proper programme for the B team and best academy players as well as not having a manager come in and have to make changes to the medical and performance departments.
Koppen names three Rangers priorities
Speaking to Rangers TV after his appointment, Koppen was asked what his immediate priorities are as technical director:
"It's about continuing to work towards the January window, which is quite an important one for the first team.
"It's about ensuring stability in the football department and, I think, a very important one, make some key decisions withing the academy, to get the right structure in place.
"As I mentioned before, this is a very unique place so by bringing people back with a Rangers background, who know what it's about, I think it's a quite crucial one moving forward."
For once, a statement that everyone can get behind.
