MAKING A MARK
Gerrard expects to have input on Allen’s successor
STEVEN GERRARD last night confirmed that he expects to be involved in the process of appointing a new director of football at Rangers, a vacancy that has arisen in the wake of Mark Allen’s shock departure.
Allen’s exit, attributed in a club statement to ‘family reasons’, comes after a hectic summer of transfer activity in which the club recruited 11 new players to beef up manager Gerrard’s squad for the new season.
The final piece of business overseen by Allen saw the club fork out £7million to Liverpool for Ryan Kent on transfer deadline day, yet just a fortnight later Gerrard admits the loss of his friend and ally has left a void in the club’s internal structure.
‘It doesn’t change things for me in terms of my role and the day-to-day stuff,’ said Gerrard, speaking
after his side’s 3-1 win over Livingston. ‘But of course there is a void there at the moment.
‘In terms of whether the club put a similar type of person in that role and how long that is going to take, you will probably have to ask the board. Will I be involved in the process? Probably.
‘I’m not in any rush. The club needs to decide whether they want a technical director in and if the right person is out there. If they can find the right person, that is the main thing. I’m sure there will be a queue for it but it has to be the right person, someone that complements everything and all the hard work Mark has done.’
Current head of scouting Andy Scoulding is one name who could emerge as a candidate, while externally Southampton director of operations Ross Wilson and Hibernian chief executive Leeann Dempster may also enter the thoughts of the Ibrox board.
Appointed in June 2017, Allen brought Gerrard to Rangers a year later and the two have enjoyed a cordial working relationship.
While the manager has been happy with Allen’s support, it’s understood the Rangers hierarchy had been left unhappy at the failure to offload several players hovering on the outer fringes of the squad.
Gerrard, however, contends that Allen has succeeded in helping to turn round the club’s fortunes over the past two years.
‘Mark has been brilliant for me and given incredible support,’ said Gerrard. ‘He sold the job to me, not that it needed selling. He was the one who came and got me, so I appreciate the opportunity from him.
‘But I totally respect his decision, he has been away from his family for two years. He came in at a time at this club when it needed shaking up, he was the one who shook it up and got it to the point it is at now.
‘From where it was when he walked in the door to where it is now, he has done a hell of a job.
‘I would have wanted him to stay around a bit longer, to be honest, but Mark has decided he wants to go back to his family. I respect that.
‘A lot of jobs in football are 9 to 5, Mark’s isn’t. He’s worked over the summer to improve the squad and help us qualify for Europe.
‘If you look at where the squad was to where it is now, I think he has completed the mission the club asked him to do. We have to respect his decision, that’s the way it is.’
The importance of European involvement was highlighted after Gerrard admitted he was spared a deadline day clear-out by Rangers’ qualification for the Europa League group stage.
Backed heavily across the course of the summer transfer window, Gerrard acknowledges that an early exit would have forced him to move a few players on.
‘Playing in Europe helps me keep the squad happy,’ he said. ‘We took a bit of a risk with the numbers going through the qualifiers and if Legia went the other way, I think I’d have been pushing more people out.
‘Everyone in the squad is going to be needed. With the number of games we have before the next break, it would be difficult just to play 12 or 13 players.’
The Europa League has added six Thursday fixtures to Rangers’ workload, with the knock-on effect of an extra half-dozen league games being shifted to Sunday. Gerrard’s old Liverpool boss Rafa Benitez famously enjoyed rotating his team and he admits he will need to pick the right moments to rest and run his players.
‘In terms of squad rotation, I’m not Rafa,’ said Gerrard. ‘I wish I was. I’ll listen to my sports science guy.
‘I’ll pick an XI capable of winning. I won’t make six changes just for the sake of it.
‘If there’s a couple of players in the zone where they’re flagging, risking injury or I see a dip in form, I’ll listen to the fitness coach.’
The UEFA rule limiting clubs to a squad of 22 players means there was no room for Matt Polster, Greg Docherty or Jordan Jones in Gerrard’s Europa League pool.
Gerrard admits Jones’ red card and consequent injury sustained as he hacked down Moritz Bauer late in the Old Firm match made it an easy decision to omit the winger.
‘It wasn’t hard to tell Jordan that he wasn’t in the squad because he’s going to be out for five to eight weeks,’ he said. ‘We’ll be well into the group by then, so it was pretty easy.’
Just as Jones was condemned for his senseless tackle, Gerrard too faced criticism for his tactics and team selection against Celtic.
A fortnight on, he admits the loss still rankles. ‘You take your criticism and rightly so,’ he reflected. ‘You swallow it and listen to it.
‘I brewed on it for a few days — and the rest...’