Kevin Thelwell sold a big fat lie at Rohl’s Rangers unveiling | OneFootball

There was a fair amount to take away from today’s first-ever press conference featuring new Rangers manager Danny Röhl, who was of course flanked by Patrick Stewart, Andrew Cavenagh, and Kevin Thelwell. We all know their positions at the club.

Thelwell Takes Control

It was however something that the sporting director Thelwell himself said that stood out the most in this press conference. On being asked whether or not he had full control over players signed as in recruitment, Thelwell took Röhl’s floor instead and answered the question first, and one of the big takeaways that the sporting director made was the following, that no player would ever be signed that the manager doesn’t want.

This felt to Ibrox Noise like an absolute porky. Kevin Thelwell has clearly signed players that not even Russell Martin wanted at the time. There was no living reason why Rangers would sign Emmanuel Fernandez for four million or of course Youssef Chermiti for that staggering 10 million.

Questionable Signings

There was nothing in either CV to suggest either was of the quality required for Rangers, and we don’t believe that Russell Martin, as bad as he was, would have endorsed those particular signings. He may not have outright objected, but there is no way that Thelwell’s claimed model of working hand in hand with the manager or head coach as he’s called these days, saw an absolute and total harmony over those particular signings and possibly more.

Consequently, we don’t believe that’s changed at all for the new man, for Röhl. Basically, Kevin Thelwell will have complete and total autonomy over signings, over recruitment, and has clearly said that that’s not Röhl’s job.

Same Old Model

This means that, to be fair, the old sporting director model that Philip Clement worked under, which was that the sporting director did all the recruitment, applies at Rangers. And in truth, this was addressed at the press conference today, where Thelwell himself said that that is the model that is generally used, and in truth, it generally is.

However, of course, the quality of Thelwell’s signings have been questionable at absolute best, and have wasted Rangers potentially £45 million at worst. So the notion the sporting director would sign players that the manager wants isn’t entirely accurate. But then we suspect Thelwell would sell his own mother out in order to get his son a job at Rangers, so all bets are off.