NILS KOPPEN says he’s determined to help deliver a ‘winning Rangers’ after today being appointed as the club’s Technical Director.
The Belgian who assumed the role of Director of Football Recruitment last December, will continue to oversee the club’s transfer strategy, while also now taking on responsibility for the performance of the club’s Men’s Academy, medical, football operations, performance and analysis departments.
Koppen has led on the significant task of implementing a new recruitment model to match the club’s ambition to build a modern and sustainable football structure, and he insists he’s hungry to help push the club forward in his new role.
Speaking to RangersTV after being confirmed as the club’s new Technical Director, Koppen said: “It’s a big honour for myself. It’s a challenge that I’m ready for and I’m really looking forward to.
“It’s about getting all the support behind the scenes at the highest level possible to support the first-team to achieve their objectives and goals and get a winning Rangers on the pitch.
“It’s also about creating an environment where accountability, quality and togetherness are key moving forward, and pushing people to get the best out of themselves and to deliver within their domain.
“In the end, the ultimate goal is to be a winning Rangers on the pitch because that’s all that matters at this club.”
Koppen will continue to lead on the club’s recruitment strategy, which helped lower the average age of the first-team squad across the recent summer window and will be key to the first-team’s progression come January.
The newly appointed Technical Director will also oversee the development of the club’s Academy, which continues to play a pivotal role in the make-up of the first-team squad.
Koppen continued: “It’s about continuing the work towards the January transfer window which is quite an important one for the first-team.
“It’s also about ensuring stability in the football department, and I think a very important one is making key decisions within the Academy to get the right structure in place.
“This club is a very unique place, so bringing people back with a Rangers background who know what it’s all about is a crucial one going forward.
“I think first of all we need to fill in the key positions in the Academy to ensure that we’ll be ready for the future and that we can be a productive Academy by bringing players through to the first-team.
“There’s been a lot of good work done within the Academy in the past year, but we cannot be satisfied with the general output.
“We need to keep creating room for our own Academy players to make the step to the first-team, and we can do that by having a better squad build up to the first-team and to give them the opportunity to step up and be a part of that.
“One of the objectives will be to sign the best talent in Scotland and maintain our best talent because we have a lot of good talent in the building already.
“We’re facing a challenge with the B Team which is not an ideal platform, so it’s on us to try to get the best challenges and opportunities for the players in our club.
“What we want to do is decrease age to make the step to the first-team and make their breakthrough. We want to do that through strategic partnerships with other clubs, by changing our own philosophy, and bringing players of a younger age and exposing them to the first-team training environment to give them the opportunity to show themselves.
“We also shouldn’t forget that we’re a Scottish club and we need to educate our players not only for our first-team but also for the Scottish game.
“It’s something that we need to pay more attention on; if they don’t make it here then they will be able to be a professional footballer at the highest Scottish level.
“One of the things that I’m looking at is adding some ex-professional Rangers players to increase that level of DNA and level of detail; players in this building who have been a part of it and know what the club is about. It’s something which is going to be key for years to come.”