Ibrox title is priority for Allen

RANGERS director of football Mark Allen says wresting the Scottish Premiership title from Celtic’s grasp ‘as soon as possible’ must be the top priority at Ibrox. And he believes that ditching a ‘scattergun approach’ to scouting will give the Light Blues a real crack at becoming champions. Allen has a key role to play in the search for a new head coach to replace Pedro Caixinha,

with Aberdeen boss Derek McInnes the frontrunner although Sportsmail revealed yesterday that Alan Pardew has also emerged as a contender. But, speaking as he announced a new scouting line-up that includes Nine-ina-Row legend John Brown, Allen insisted ambitious targets were definitely achievable. ‘We need to become more competitive as soon as possible and we need to win the Scottish Premiership as soon as possible,’ he said. ‘You go back to basics. To be successful in the Scottish Premiership, and at Rangers in particular, you need to be organised, ruthless and relentless. ‘So we looked at those characteristics and started to look on and off the pitch to create this environment. ‘Off the back of that, you start to look at the sort of player profiles that will fit into that and the characteristics you were looking for in terms of a profile of a Rangers player. ‘For me, you need commitment, you need leadership, you need respect and you need a football intelligence. ‘You need a winning mentality and I do believe you need a degree of physicality.’ Allen, whose appointment after Caixinha’s arrival raised questions about the extent of his influence during a disappointing summer transfer window, added: ‘I think the beauty of what we have built is it is big enough to be able to scout in the right areas — but it isn’t too big that you are going to be inundated with players. ‘These are going to be targeted approaches as opposed to a scattergun approach. We will go where the style and type of football matches the type of player we are looking for.’ Brown will have a key role in that. Allen admitted: ‘When you go back and look at some of those characteristics I mentioned in terms of the player profile, John is well-known to have had that history with Rangers — and will know what a Rangers player looks like.’ Andy Scoulding, formerly a performance analyst with the FA, has been made head of scouting while former Aston Villa European scout Dave Swanick has also been added to the team. Billy McLaren, head of the Rangers Academy scouting system, joins Scoulding to provide ‘experience and continuity’.