IN his first week as Sporting Director, Kevin Thelwell has outlined his vision for the football department at Rangers.
Thelwell was speaking following the appointment of Russell Martin as Men's first-team Head Coach, a process he was heavily involved in despite only formally beginning his position on Monday.
The 51-year-old will assume overall responsibility for all areas of the football operation at the club, including Men’s, Women’s and Academy.
Sitting down with RangersTV for the first time since his appointment, Thelwell said of a hectic first week: "The first week has been great. It's been busy, as you can imagine, and there's been a lot of work to do.
"There have been a lot of opportunities to visit Ibrox and the training facilities, begin talking to people, and of course we appointed a new Head Coach.
"We've had a bit going on, but it's nice to, at last, get my feet under the table. I'm very much looking forward to working ahead.
"It was an easy decision. Rangers are a huge football club and I've been very lucky on many occasions to be able to visit here as part of scouting and recruitment.
"For me, it's an incredible football club and an incredible opportunity.
"Our reality is that we've been in a low moment for a little while, but the opportunity to flip that ship is worth fighting for, which I'm very much looking forward to.
"Ibrox is a very special place to watch and play football, and my view is that if we're able to be successful then we'll be able to give the fans back something that they've been craving for so long.
"I hope that people can see we're starting to build a group of people capable of delivering that.
"I listened to Russell in his [unveiling] press conference and he's right: we're all going to be all in to get Rangers into a spot whereby we start to win again."
Martin, whose most recent achievement on the touchline came in guiding Southampton back to the Premier League last year, will operate as Head Coach, a departure from the traditional Manager title.
Thelwell was in no doubt that Martin was the outstanding candidate from the interview process and, as Sporting Director, he insists his remit, alongside his responsibilities across the football department, will be to provide the foundations for the 39-year-old to deliver sustained success at the club.
He continued: "We went through a quite diligent and thorough process and tried to use the time we had at our disposal to the very best opportunity.
"Right from the very start, it was clear to me, and the other guys involved in the process, that Russell was the standout candidate. He was outstanding.
"He has a lot of experience as a manager and head coach, and over the course of that career it's been clear to see that he's sharpened that approach in his methods, in terms of technical, tactical, and also from a personal perspective.
"Why have we chosen a Head Coach rather than a Manager? It's a really interesting question.
"From my perspective, the job of a manager is a very, very difficult one.
"It's clear that managers, or head coaches, need a lot of support.
"We wanted Russell to focus on the most important bit of which was preparation of the team, performance of the team, and, fundamentally, the results.
"The Sporting Director, myself, will then work on all of the bits which surround that team to make it as successful as it possibly can; the support services, medical, sports science, and coaching.
"We believe that working together closely in that way can help us be more successful."
Changes have continued apace this week as it was confirmed that Nils Koppen will depart the club in his role as Technical Director where he has been succeeded by Dan Purdy, who most recently served as Head of Recruitment at Everton.
On squad recruitment, Thelwell commented: "The Technical Director role is an important one and that's why we recruited Dan Purdy to the role.
"I didn't actually believe that Dan would be available to us because once he decided to leave Everton there was a lot of interest in him.
"I'm delighted that we've been able to secure him.
"He's going to be completely focussed on recruitment across all of our teams and I'm sure he's going to do an excellent job.
"We know what the job is: to win. And we need to win today. There's no doubt about that.
"If you want to win today, you need to get a balance in the playing squad.
"If you want to do that, you need to recruit young and hungry players that are developed within the football club and develop an appropriate trading plan.
"Every good football club needs to have the ability to develop players and sell for profit, which helps the team not only to win today but also the reinvestment of those finances back into the team.
"The key word is balance. I understand it can't be too young of a team, but neither can it be too old. We need to find a way of doing a number of things all in one space.
"We understand what the job is and what we need to do, which is to win, but we also know we need to sustain that."
Fundamental to the success of Rangers is also the club’s Women’s side, fresh from a second successive cup double and led by Donald Gillies off the pitch and Jo Potter on the pitch.
Thelwell believes the foundations are strong, while the new Sporting Director also spelled out his ambition for the club’s Academy.
He added: "We want all areas to be successful.
“From my perspective, it's really important we take a good look at what the quality of the provision is in the Academy, Women's and Men's, and understand what great looks like.
“We then can start a plan which creates synergy across all those teams, make the provisions stronger, and hopefully get the teams to improve and give them the best chance to win.
"My background is, first and foremost, in academy management. I was head of youth and academy manager for a number of different clubs.
“I regard young players as being very important to any plan. We'll be working as hard as we can possibly can to get very close to the academy, understand what the issues are, and very quickly start to support the Academy to be as strong as it possibly can be.
“If you're going to continue to win over a period of time, young players need to be an important part of that process.
“We need to create clear pathways and opportunities, and also get young players to understand that they can have a future here and there's a chance of playing in the first-team. Those will be on the agenda moving forward.”