Scoulding is the one who got away
Ibrox talent spotter will be missed, says former sporting director Allen
ANDY SCOULDING was nowhere near the spotlight as Rangers toasted their rapid, runaway title success in March 2021. There was no mention of him as Ibrox partied after bundling RB Leipzig out of the Europa League to complete an improbable run to the Seville showpiece.
Scott Wright stroked home the Scottish Cup clincher and Scoulding’s graft didn’t exactly torpedo into the thoughts as the blue half of Hampden were in celebratory heaven.
Make no mistake, however, about Scoulding’s influence being all over the successful Rangers teams of Steven Gerrard and Giovanni van Bronckhorst.
Ex-Aberdeen forward Wright was just one of the shrewd and cheap signings made during the Scoulding head of scouting tenure that turned Rangers into winners again. Joe Aribo, Glen Kamara and Calvin Bassey are three others picked up for a pittance and now worth many millions.
In order to repeat the cycle, Rangers will be required to
operate without the expertise of Scoulding who is due to take up a new position with Tottenham. That development, says former director of football Mark Allen, represents a blow to the Ibrox club.
Under Allen’s watch, it was the revered expertise of Scoulding that transformed the record of Rangers in the transfer market.
Welshman Allen pinpointed the ex-English FA analyst as perfect to head up the recruitment revolution five years ago.
His instincts were spot-on and he admits it was Scoulding he saw as his natural successor in the Rangers job before Ross Wilson’s arrival from Southampton.
Allen does believe, however, that Scoulding is destined to fill a Director of Football role one day at a major club.
Allen, who left Ibrox in 2019, said: ‘If I was still at Rangers, I wouldn’t be wanting to lose Andy Scoulding — no chance.
‘He’s the guy who deserves a lot of credit for what’s happened at Rangers but never got recognised for it.
‘Spurs coming for him doesn’t surprise me at all. As well as going out and picking players out and writing reports, he’s a huge talent in strategising and a great lateral thinker.
‘I think he’s going to be a bit of a loss. Andy has the skills to go on and be very successful.
‘Without a doubt, he’s a future director of football somewhere at a big club.’
Allen tackled a significant recruitment rebuild at Rangers because the department had suffered greatly during the years down the divisions.
Ruinous regimes had no interest investing there, leaving a key area to rot while rivals Celtic thrived in the transfer market.
While Rangers paid off many a dud signing over the years, across the city the profits rolled in from clever buys and big sales like Victor Wanyama and Virgil van Dijk. Scoulding helped assemble a strong scouting team, including nine-in-a-row legend John Brown, and with Allen’s assistance completely revamped and modernised the set-up.
Allen explained: ‘It was clear the industry was moving very much down the analytics route. With Andy’s background as analyst in previous roles, he was well
versed. I had one eye on the future with the way recruitment was going.
‘I wanted to bring someone with knowledge of what was in the marketplace and also of the direction the industry was going.
‘Andy had all those skills. From a person point of view, it was clear from references that he’s very diligent, thorough and a tremendously hard worker.
‘I was able to be leader with the overall vision. I recognised Andy as the guy for recruitment.
‘He was a great aid to me for what we were trying to build at Rangers in the early days. And he was definitely that guy to nurture and develop in the background as my successor.’
Scoulding’s skills stood out with Fulham in a video analysis role before he moved on to Liverpool, England and Valencia.
His part in helping assemble a Europa League final team that cost £12million (more than half of which was Ryan Kent) couldn’t be kept a secret for much longer and Spurs swooped.
Allen explained: ‘Andy would do the “first pass”, if you like. He’d look at players, bring them to the table and we’d discuss them.
‘I would sit with Stevie, his coaching staff and Andy, evaluate that talent and come up with a selection criterion based off the recommendations.
‘We built a very successful Rangers off nothing, really. Joe Aribo — free. Kamara — £50,000. Allan McGregor and Scott Arfield — free. Borna Barisic, Connor Goldson, Steven Davis, Ryan Kent. He had a role in recruiting all of them.
‘Rangers have reaped benefits from a lot of stuff done there in my time and Andy’s time.’
Andy was definitely that guy to develop in background as my successor