Rangers back to EFL League One as club make announcement | OneFootball

Rangers’ appointment of Fry is another chapter in the club’s obsession with the lower reaches of English football. Danny Rohl and Kevin Thelwell have once again gone shopping in the EFL, as if the answer to Rangers’ problems lies somewhere in League One. Fry’s arrival follows a pattern that fans have seen before, and patience is running thin. The club keeps dipping into the same pool that has brought mixed success at best.

A familiar story of risky recruitment

Scott Fry joins as set piece coach after leaving Lincoln City, a side that finished mid table in League One. On paper, his numbers look fine. Lincoln scored 30 goals from dead balls last season, an impressive figure in isolation. But Rangers are not Lincoln. The expectations, pressure, and scrutiny at Ibrox sit on a completely different level. Supporters have seen this film before. Staff from lower English tiers come north full of promise, but very few manage to elevate the club. It often ends the same way: underwhelming results and another reshuffle months later.

Thelwell clearly rates Fry’s data profile, yet fans have grown tired of analytics without evidence on the pitch. Set pieces have been a long term weakness, and this appointment feels more like a box ticked than a transformative move. Rohl’s vision for modernisation may be genuine, but results will define whether this experiment lasts longer than others before it.

Rangers’ hierarchy keeps insisting that structure matters more than profile, yet the fanbase sees repetition. Another staff addition, another EFL figure, and another gamble on potential rather than proven pedigree.

An approach built on hope not conviction

According to The Scottish Sun, Fry impressed with Lincoln’s set piece record, but statistics rarely translate easily into Scottish football. Rangers have tried similar pathways before, usually without much success. Thelwell’s backing of another lower league candidate will raise eyebrows. Supporters want authority, not experiments.

GiveMeSport noted that Rohl retains the final say on coaching additions, but the influence of Thelwell remains strong. His fingerprints are all over this type of move. It echoes past appointments where strategy outweighed instinct. Once again, it feels like an executive decision driven more by data than football sense.

Even The Guardian pointed out how these decisions often highlight a lack of joined-up thinking inside the club. That concern remains valid. Fry might bring knowledge, but Rangers need identity. Without that, no specialist can bridge the gap between good ideas and genuine progress.

A sign of direction or desperation

Rangers’ appointment of Fry could either prove inspired or become another symbol of misjudgment. Supporters want evidence of progress, not more theory. The board keeps talking about evolution, but evolution demands learning from mistakes. Rangers must stop repeating the same patterns and start thinking like a giant again. If Fry fails, this will not be on him alone. It will be yet another reminder that the club keeps looking down when it needs to look up.