Incoming Rangers sporting director Kevin Thelwell has detailed the debt he owes to the former Ibrox player who helped set him on the way to a successful career at club level and gave him the chance to be part of a management team that won the richest game in football at Wembley.
Thelwell has agreed a deal to join Rangers when he leaves his position as director of football at Everton in the summer and brings a wealth of experience from similar roles at Wolverhampton Wanderers and MLS outfit New York Red Bulls.
However, his first moves in the club game came after leaving a coach education job at the Welsh FA to become head of youth for Billy Davies at Preston North End and then following him to Derby County as academy manager.
Thelwell was introduced to Davies, who spent six years as a player at Rangers in the 1980s, by former Motherwell player and then Preston assistant boss David Kelly, who did his coaching badges through the Welsh FA.
However, it was at Derby that Thelwell, invited to work with the first-team, experienced the high of being in the dugout at Wembley when the Rams beat West Brom in the promotion play-off to make it into the promised land of the English Premier League.
‘I loved working for the Football Association of Wales and I’d never have got that chance at a bigger association. I’d spent four years as director of coach education, delivering A-licence and Pro Licence courses,’ recalled Thelwell in an interview with VSI Executive Education last year.
Kevin Thelwell will begin his new role as Rangers’ sporting director when he leaves Everton
Thelwell assisted Billy Davies at Derby when the club won their Wembley play-off final in 2007
Stephen Pearson scored the only goal as Derby saw off West Brom in front of 75,000 fans
‘But I was probably in that space where I was thinking: “Well, I’m talking to all these people about the theory of what they should do when they get out in the real world, but how much experience have I actually got in terms of practice?”
‘I was a bit concerned I was becoming more of a theorist and less of a practitioner.
‘I suppose I moved because of the opportunity. Dave Kelly was the assistant manager at Preston and had been on the courses — and I wanted to get to the space where I wanted to build my own philosophy, understand how it truly worked.
‘Preston was a good opportunity to do that as head of youth. It was a crazy time. I had one year at Preston North End as head of youth and then Billy moved to Derby County, a huge club.
‘He offered me the role of academy manager and I accepted. It was great to travel with the manager, knowing you were going to get that support.
‘But the reality of that first season was that I ended up really being first-team coach because the contractual situation meant some of the guys he wanted to bring in as his backroom (staff) couldn’t quite get out as early as they would have liked.
‘It was a great experience, really, because I ended up working with the first-team, working with Billy on a regular basis on the grass, and I think we got promoted in the very best way.
‘Everybody wants to go up as champions, of course, but the idea of going to Wembley and winning at Wembley and then getting into the Premier League was an amazing experience that I will never forget.
‘The 10 days building up to that one game, which is now the richest game in football, and then to go and win. There were a few drinks had afterwards, let’s say.’
Robinson impressed by Leeds’ formula for success
Big investment, big sponsors, a whole new look at business management and a focus on building a squad through a number of strategic acquisitions rather than blowing the budget on marquee names.
That’s what former Leeds United and England goalkeeper Paul Robinson has admired most about the way in which 49ers Enterprises have taken the Elland Road club back into the English Premier League and he reckons Rangers will benefit hugely should they lay down the same template at Ibrox.
The investment arm of the San Francisco 49ers are a key part of the US consortium, led by Andrew Cavenagh, which is now close to completing a takeover in Govan and will be expected to streamline Rangers to fit in with other elements of their soccer strategy.
Leeds, whose chairman Paraag Marathe has been heavily involved in negotiations at Rangers, allowed energy drinks giants Red Bull to buy a minority stake in the club last season as well as become front-of-shirt sponsor and the tie-up has worked well with Daniel Farke’s side securing promotion from the Championship.
Robinson has watched his old club’s evolution closely, though, and has been impressed by the way Marathe and Co have reconstructed the footballing element of the operation.
Leeds have signed nine players since last summer with centre-back Joe Rodon representing the biggest investment at £10million from Spurs.
Significant fees were only paid for four others in Largie Ramazani (£9.5m from Almeria), Jayden Bogle (£5m from Sheffield United), Ao Tanaka (£3.4m from Fortuna Dusseldorf) and Isaac Schmidt (£2.5m from St Gallen).
Leeds United players celebrate their promotion from the Championship this week
Former England goalkeeper Paul Robinson has been impressed by Leeds’ ownership
Joe Rodon was one of relatively few big-name purchases made by the Elland Road club
Leeds chairman Paraag Marathe has been heavily involved in talks about acquiring Rangers
‘You look at the model of what the 49ers have done at Leeds and you look at the way that they’ve run the club. It’s not been massive gross overspending. It’s not been an influx of players,’ Robinson told Football Insider.
‘Granted, they spent a lot at Leeds at the start of the season — more than some Premier League clubs — but they strengthened in areas that the squad needed strengthening. They didn’t go waste a load of money on one player.
‘It was a restructuring of quality. They’ve not only got the investment from Red Bull, but they’ve got the business now from Red Bull; the two businesses running side by side, how financially sound and structured they are.
‘It’s only good for Rangers. It puts them in a position of strength where they are able to keep their better players, but they understand the game where certain players do have to go and allow a manager the opportunity to restructure with the finances.
‘Leeds have been extremely well run since they’ve come in. If that’s the way that things are going to go at Glasgow Rangers, there’s only good things ahead for them.’
Bilbao defeat lets club plan ahead for new era
Rangers are in a state of flux right now, what with new owners ready to take charge, no permanent manager and uncertainty over the future of just about every player.
But at least there is a chance, sooner than there might have been, to clear the decks, make early decisions and hit the ground running at the start of next season.
Had there still been anything to play for in this hapless campaign, it might have been a little more awkward to move on from interim manager Barry Ferguson and the shambles he inherited.
As it is, Rangers’ season has effectively ended, thanks to that Europa League exit at the hands of Athletic Bilbao, which renders meaningless the remaining month of competition.
That will free up the minds of those behind the scenes to get on with finalising the takeover, identifying a long-term boss and making plans sooner rather than later.
After all, there are players to sign, players to sell and pre-season games to arrange before they even think about European qualifiers that will come along before the summer is even out.
That is a tough timetable for even the most organised clubs with an established strategy on and off the pitch, a manager in place and all their ducks in a row.
For Rangers, it is a brutal challenge, one that demands not a minute be lost as they seek to draw a line under this era and step boldly into a new one.
Lennon’s blueprint for Rangers success
Rangers have been advised by former Celtic manager Neil Lennon to base their summer rebuild around regarding their arch-rivals as the yardstick of what it takes to be successful.
Lennon was at Hampden Park on Sunday to watch his old club blow away St Johnstone in the semi-finals of the Scottish Cup as part of Premier Sports’ big-match panel and is hugely impressed by the role on-field lieutenants such as Callum McGregor, Cameron Carter-Vickers and even James Forrest play for boss Brendan Rodgers.
Ex-Celtic boss Neil Lennon is the most unlikely of voices to suggest the way ahead for Rangers
Having strong personalities such as Ferguson, Billy Dodds and Neil McCann is an essential from Lennon’s perspective
The current Dunfermline head coach reckons it is essential to have strong players and personalities on the park that are capable of driving standards and pushing the manager’s message during games, and he sees that in Celtic in abundance.
However, despite admitting there is talent in the Ibrox line-up to match that across the city of Glasgow, Lennon regards Rangers as ‘mentally weak’ and believes finding the right characters for the spine of the team will be crucial as they reconstruct their squad for next season.
‘Look, in the Rangers dugout at the minute you’ve got three guys in Barry (Ferguson), Neil McCann and Billy Dodds who know Rangers inside-out,’ said Lennon on The Scottish Football Social Club.
‘They know the DNA of the club and what the driving force is. They have been very successful as players and Barry obviously has been a captain. He will have been driving the narrative, but he is not getting the responses.
‘They are far too inconsistent. I don’t see Rangers blowing teams away the way Celtic do. On their day, Rangers can match Celtic if not better them, but they have too many off days. Way, way, far too many.
‘The secret to this squad is getting the consistency from them, which Celtic do have. With Rangers at the minute, you can toss a coin to see what sort of team is going to turn up. They consistently concede goals, they are mentally weak and they don’t have that spine of the team.
‘Obviously, is not for me to call it, but to drive Rangers forward, you need to have that spine in the team.
The former Celtic manager is back in the dugout in Scotland with Dunfermline Athletic
‘(At Celtic), the messaging comes from the manager, whether it is Brendan or his staff talking it through. Then, Callum McGregor and your James Forrests and (Cameron) Carter-Vickers, your senior players, they drive the narrative for the team.
‘Every season, I think you have to keep freshening it by bringing one or two bodies in. I think it is important to keep it fresh, but keep your main sort of quarterbacks happy in the squad, driving the narrative forward.’
Burnside fits the bill for Rangers
New Rangers sporting director Kevin Thelwell has been clear on his philosophy of producing a conveyor belt of young players at all the clubs he has served — and Under-18 forward Callum Burnside is the latest to be staking his claim for recognition at Ibrox with a glut of goals.
The 18-year-old Northern Irishman attracted attention recently when scoring in the 2-1 win over Partick Thistle that put his side in the Glasgow Cup final, but he has been hitting the net in regular fashion over the past while.
He scored twice against St Mirren and once against Aberdeen in the lead-up to that win over Partick and also netted in both of the Rangers Under-18 team’s matches against Queen’s Park and the Buddies since.
The likes of Findlay Curtis, Paul Nsio, Mason Munn and Bailey Rice, set to be handed a new long-term contract, have all been drafted into the Rangers first-team squad this season and Burnside will hope to continue his progress ahead of what looks like a real summer of change at the Govan outfit.
‘He’s got impact,’ said Under-18s coach Steven Smith after Burnside’s Glasgow Cup heroics. ‘Callum has had that since I have known him. He always produces, even when he doesn’t play, probably, to the level, when you are maybe thinking about taking him off the pitch.
‘You always know that he has got something in him and can produce a moment, get a goal or an assist. He produces really good numbers.
Callum Burnside scores against Clyde in an SPFL Trust Trophy fixtures earlier this season
Burnside has been tipped to follow Bailey Rice and Findlay Curtis into the first-team set-up
‘He takes responsibility. Sometimes, it doesn’t come off for him and that is when we speak to him about it, when he makes the right decision or the wrong decision. When it does come off, he does produce quality and he produces numbers with it.’
Docherty expects further twists in title race
Rangers captain Nicola Docherty has warned that her team-mates must thrive on the pressure of representing the club if they are to win the league title.
As they entered last weekend’s programme of fixtures, Rangers were top of the SWPL table thanks to a midweek victory over Glasgow City.
But a 2-0 defeat by Hibs, following first-half goals by Kathleen McGovern and Stacey Papadopoulos, allowed the Edinburgh side to leapfrog them and go two points clear.
Docherty admitted it was a deserved defeat for Jo Potter’s side, who had beaten Hibs 5-0 in the League Cup final only a month earlier and were on a 13-match unbeaten run.
If last season’s title run-in is any guide, there are a few twists and turns still to come.
Docherty says Rangers must be strong enough to avoid any more slip-ups in their five remaining games.
‘You could see last season, how it changes all the time, but we want to make sure we are at the forefront of that,’ Docherty explained. ‘We want to be challenging for the title.
Nicola Docherty keeps an eye on Hibs’ Eilidh Adams in the weekend SWPL defeat
‘At a club like Rangers, there is pressure on us all the time to go and get results. We need to thrive on that pressure. We really need to work on that going forward.
‘There are five games left to go. It’s like a cup final every game. We want three points from every game but you need to earn that right. You can’t just turn up at games like [against Hibs] expecting to win.’
Next up for Rangers is a Scottish Cup semi-final against Aberdeen on Sunday. ‘It’s a trophy we won last season so it’s one we really want to keep,’ added Docherty. ‘It will be a tough game, and we know they will be right up for it, but we want to make sure that we are in that final.’
