Glasgow Rangers manager Michael Beale's extensive “contacts book” means there is no rush to appoint a new sporting director at Ibrox, according to journalist Dean Jones.
What's the latest on Wilson's exit?
Ross Wilson first arrived in the Scottish Premiership back in 2019 and was behind the appointment of Giovanni van Bronckhorst and later Beale, not to mention he smashed the club’s player sale record twice with Nathan Patterson joining Everton for £16m before Calvin Bassey brought in almost £23m following his move to Ajax (Sky Sports).
The Scotsman left his post with the Light Blues earlier this month to accept the role of chief football officer with Nottingham Forest in the Premier League after they relieved Filippo Giraldi of his duties, which closed the chapter of his three-and-a-half years north of the border.
Beale, however, has confirmed that his summer transfer and pre-season plans remain on track and are unaffected despite the 39-year-old’s exit, having been working on preparations behind-the-scenes since November.
Speaking to Football FanCast, Jones confirmed that Rangers won’t rush into a new appointment and are likely to rely on Beale's impressive contacts list in the mean time. He said:
“I think they’ll take their time over it. Ultimately, they'll use Michael Beale and his connections to deal with the situation. I mean, he’s saying he could probably handle it himself for the time being. And with his contacts book, there's probably no immediate concerns over how Rangers do it. At the end of the day, a lot of this is about Michael Beale’s vision anyway, so it shouldn't matter too much.”
Are Rangers getting it wrong?
Rangers will definitely need to appoint a new sporting director to oversee the first-team department, because as much as Beale may think he can fulfill the role by himself, recruiting a fresh face behind-the-scenes is the only way he can fully focus on improving matters on the pitch.
And while the hierarchy might well want to wait until the summer to identify the best possible candidates rather than rushing through an appointment now, that depends entirely on how truthful Beale's claims about the completeness of their summer plans are.
Should the Gers miss out on any of their main targets – Jose Cifuentes is already attracting rival interest from Leeds United for example – they may be left in a perilous situation scrambling around for other options without the proper recruitment process in place.