WOMEN’S Managing Director Donald Gillies has praised Leanne Crichton’s early impact at Rangers.
In a summer of change at the club, the Light Blues appointed their new Head Coach at the beginning of August and has since gone unbeaten in her competitive outings in charge, winning five games and drawing one respectively.
Speaking to RangersTV to reflect on the former Scotland international's time in charge and the club’s ambitions for the season, he said: “Leanne had to come in and hit the ground at a sprint, never mind running. She has been fantastic, really strong.
“She is everything that we saw during the interview and recruitment process, not just in terms of the technical and tactical pieces, because she has come in and she has put her own identity into the style of play and into the systems of play that she wants to work through, but she has had to cope with unexpected player departures.
“She has also worked really closely on the recruitment side of things in order to bring in players that suit the way that she wants to play, and on top of that, getting to know the cadence of a club that has a lot of things going on.
“A staffing group that she hasn't necessarily worked with before on a larger scale.
“She has been really strong; it has been a pleasure to see her work over the last six weeks or so. She is only really getting started I would even go as far as to say she is still playing catch-up to a degree of what she wants to see happening, which will be a process for her, but certainly the way that Leanne has gone about her business is everything that we had expected and more.”
Now that the dust has settled on the transfer window, he has looked ahead to what the club is hoping to achieve throughout 25/26, but acknowledges fellow teams in the division are only continuing to get stronger.
Gillies continued: “It goes without saying that we want to win; there is no question about it.
“I think, as we have said numerous times, the one thing that we have fallen short on in the last little while has been the league and making sure that we uncover those elements that will add to our ability to take that final step and achieve that has probably been the priority.
“We want to defend the Scottish Cup, we want to defend the Sky Sports Cup, and so going on and saying that we want to win in everything that we are involved in is obviously part of who we are at Rangers. We spoke about the unifying vision for the club we want, and to win and be successful. We want to represent the quality that we have in the building as best as we possibly can.
“The league is even more competitive now than it was last year, and you can see that in the short space of time that the league has been running.
“Even results from past weekends and teams that we have played perhaps in the past, we would have been a little bit further away from Montrose, even the Motherwell game as well, and Partick Thistle really were excellent when they played, especially in the first half too.
“I think it is going to be incredibly tough to be more successful within this league, but you can't really shy away from the ambition.
“We want to be successful. The league is the one that we want; we have said that openly, but we know that it could potentially be even tougher to achieve it this year than it was in the past.
“Those one percents, those marginal games that have been talked about so many times in the past are the ones that we are chasing that will hopefully allow us to get there.”
Gillies praised the Gers support for their patience over a summer of uncertainty, but is now looking forward to what’s to come for the remainder of the campaign.
He added: “It is probably a little bit early to say thank you, but it is probably the message or the overriding thought that the players and Leanne and the staff and I have at the moment, and it is more about us understanding that when a Head Coach and when players are moving on. Key players and players who have been a key reason why you have come to watch the game.
“Whether it is Chelsea Cornet or Ini or Liv for that matter, or Rio or even those that have retired like Jane Ross, we recognise that leaves a gap.
“As I say, with those delays in terms of how the market then gets moving and the new Head Coach then coming in, we recognise that I think there were probably a few supporters out there who were like what is going on.
“Whilst we are in control of what that situation looks like, obviously, we can't always talk about it, and any of the supporters that we have talked to at the games so far, I am keen to express my thanks to them.
“Whether or not you are a supporter of the women's team, or you are a kind of casual observer of how the team is performing, or you have no interest at all, we feel that we are in a really good place.
“There have been really competitive games; we have gone behind in three of those and demonstrated great resilience to come back and get results out of them, and so it is going to be an interesting season.
“For just now, it is thanks for bearing with us and thanks for sticking with the process, and please continue to back us through the season because we believe we have got something special for them this year.”
You can watch the interview with Donald Gillies in full below.
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