WOMEN’S and Girls’ Football Manager Amy McDonald says Rangers are continuing to build a network around the women’s game to help enhance their recruitment process.
With virtually a new squad put together in the last 18-months, McDonald says data has been key to create a benchmark for possible signing targets.
Speaking exclusively to RangersTV, McDonald feels they have adapted well to a new way of working to ensure they are leading the way in terms of recruitment.
She said: “It has been a really joined up process this time. We have worked with Andy Scoulding and David Stevenson in the men’s side of things and that has afforded us an experience to build our network and agents.
“It is slightly more difficult in the women’s game, it is obviously getting better all the time but trying to get access to the video and games become an issue but during this time it is something we have had to be really reliant on.
“We have had to learn to adapt all the time and this is one of the key areas where we have really had to adapt.
“In the first year we had to put together a squad and I think we achieved that but now it is about taking the detail and the amount of information that we are able to pull on the players to a different level.
“We were really fortunate that we got back to play the seven games because they have allowed us to have that benchmarked to be able to see where the other players we are targeting for recruitment sit against the players we currently have and how they will fit into the wider league.”
During this transfer window, Rangers have signed Kirsty Howat, Sam Kerr and Rachel McLauchlan from Glasgow City, with Jamaica international Chantelle Swaby also joining the squad.
McDonald continued: “We are delighted because I think when we first started in this journey it was really evident to me it is not about money for a lot of female players it is about the environment that you create.
“At Rangers we have the opportunity to create a really unique and positive environment because we are part of a wider club, this one club. That is a huge selling point for a lot of the players we are trying to recruit.
“Rangers is a worldwide brand but the women's programme within Rangers is still relatively new to people and to be able to showcase the environment that we can create as well as affording players an opportunity to be professional footballers is really important for us.
“A combination of that attracted the girls to the club and for us you can see the benefits that they bring, they are driven, they are committed, they are hard-working and they want to win. They have got a winning attitude and they have proved that previously at Glasgow City so it is something that has really kicked the squad on.
“Chantelle was one of the players that we had marked and tracked and you can see her pedigree. I think it speaks highly of her the fact that she is mainly a centre-half but to go and play centre-mid at the World Cup and be trusted in that position.
“She wants to work hard, wants to succeed and wants to do really well. She is really humble and has a lot of humility in how she wants to do that.
McDonald feels Rangers is now viewed as a good destination for female footballers, and says the club must remain alert and active in a growing transfer market.
She added: “I think it helps that other clubs in the league are also recruiting it increases competition, it increases awareness throughout different regions so it is definitely now seen as a good destination.
“They want to have a career but it is also an opportunity to come into a professional environment and because of how we are structured we really put a lot of emphasis on developing individual players.
“It is key for us that we put in a programme that helps those players develop to a level and maybe in future that would lead to us losing some but they might go on and play for other clubs because the transfer market within the women's game is becoming better and better every year as well. We need to be alive and alert to that all that time.”
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