Miller backs plan to cope with loss of Warburton
Following successful strategy in England and Continent is right move, says striker
DESPITE now being in his 20th season as a professional, and even though he has played for nine different clubs throughout his career, Kenny Miller has never worked in a set-up that incorporated a director of football.
Yet, the striker is in no doubt that bringing in an individual to oversee the playing department is the correct move for Rangers following the sudden departure of manager Mark Warburton, his assistant Davie Weir and their head of recruitment Frank McParland last week.
Miller has seen an increasing number of clubs in the modern game make that appointment and flourish and he feels Rangers could benefit from following their lead as they continue their bid to return to the forefront of the Scottish game.
“I don’t think I’ve been involved in a club where there’s been a director of football,” he said. “But it’s definitely a route certain clubs go down. For me, it allows the manager to deal with the playing side. The director of football can deal with the other stuff, take the strain off him, help him as much as he can.
“There are some real success stories, particularly in England and on the Continent. Closer to home, it seems to have worked at Hearts. They are a club that is definitely moving in the right direction.”
The fact that Rangers currently have nobody scouting and recruiting players following the exit of McParland is concerning for officials and Miller can understand the attraction of having a director of football who is not linked to the manager.
“I do hear that we have a plan,” he said. “The director of football and head coach has been mentioned a lot and, if that’s going to be the route we go down, then it sounds to me like we have a plan in place.
“I have no experience beyond what I read, but it seems to me that the idea is for the style, the philosophy and the identity the club might have in terms of player and management recruitment will never change. That sounds really positive to me.
“Maybe it is a bit of a change from the norm in Scotland. But if there is continuity and the club is on a path it firmly believes in – because you need to be committed – it can’t go up in the air when a manager leaves.”
Managers coming and going is something Miller has grown used to over the years. However, he admitted that Warburton leaving had shocked him.
“We were surprised, but that’s football,” he said. “We’ve just got to pick ourselves up and affect what we can control, which is the performances on match day, winning games and getting to the latter stages of the cup. Our goals remain the same as they did before the manager left.”
Miller stressed that team spirit has remained high despite Warburton leaving and praised the work of Graeme Murty, the under-20 coach who has taken over on a temporary basis.
“The manager pretty much brought everybody to the football club so there are a lot of lads who have a lot to thank him for,” he said. “So there’s going to be people down, others not so down, but Graeme has come and done a really good job of picking us up straight away.
“Having worked with him with the 20s for a while I know what Graeme’s about – and he’s more than capable of doing the job that he’s asked at the moment,” he said.
“I have no concerns there. He’s been great and it’s been a really positive week. I played against him a lot when he was at Reading and I was at Wolves. They were a right good outfit at that time … really organised under Alan Pardew and Graeme took on the captaincy.
“I remember he was a very steady player and he had four caps for Scotland as well, so I shared a dressing room with him too. He was always vocal, always a leader and those are good traits to have when you take over the position he’s in at the moment.
“His communication skills have been evident in the past four or five days. The message is there and it’s clear – not that it wasn’t before – but it can only help him put his stamp on the team.”
McLeish is the bookmakers’ favourite to take over and Miller believes he would be a good appointment. “There are some really good candidates among all the names that have been mentioned,” he said.
“Alex has been here before, he has seen it, he has had a very successful spell here as a manager. I don’t think there would be any doubts about him coming in.”