NEIL Banfield hopes to bring success to Rangers as he outlined his role as first-team assistant coach on Michael Beale’s coaching staff.
Speaking exclusively to RangersTV in his first interview since arriving at the club, Banfield detailed his long-standing relationship with Beale: “I knew Michael many moons ago, I first signed him at Charlton Athletic when I was Head of Youth. He was a 14-year-old, young, gangly left winger. We both went our own ways but we kept in touch.
“I’ve watched Michael grow as a coach and we reconnected at QPR. All throughout his career, he was at Chelsea with a good friend of mine Dermott Drummy. He was given the opportunity to be QPR manager and he invited me to be part of his backroom staff.
“It’s been a really enjoyable journey, we’ve dovetailed really well together. We [the coaching staff] have assisted Michael and it’s been going really well. We hope to take the success here to Rangers.”
After an extensive period heading up Arsenal’s Reserve team, Banfield joined Arsene Wenger’s first-team coaching staff in 2012, where he was exposed to a demanding first team environment with lofty expectations to meet.
He continued: “You can feel the passion that is within the club, and the drive and determination to be successful. You get used to working with the pressure of a high intensity club and you can feel it straight away when you walk in the door here at Rangers.
“We’ve seen the quality in the squad in the last few days. The work that Michael wants to do, they’ve been very receptive to what he wants to do and the intensity. I think they’re enjoying the training that Michael has put on, albeit it’s only been a short period of time. We can see there’s a good future for us.
“We’ve seen that there’s some young players which is great, and some great young players coming through the Academy which is the bedrock in building a successful football team. Allied to the experience that the team has, it bears for a really good run-in for the rest of the season.”
The experienced coach is excited to embrace a fresh environment at Ibrox, with his varied and extensive coaching career making him well-equipped for the challenge of helping Beale lead Rangers.
He added: “Being first-team coach, it’s different from development coach when I was Head of Youth when you’re developing players. When you’re with the first-team, there’s more tactical work and how you’re going to break teams down and win games. It evolves around the tactical side of the game more, getting your team prepared to go and win the next game.
“I’ll be assisting Michael, along with Damian and Harry, and all of the functions that he puts on and the way that he wants to drive the club. We’ll be assisting him with his day-to-day work, in the analysis room, and pushing the club forward.”