Rangers refuse to accept ‘scew up’ for ‘clunky’ head coach appointment process | OneFootball

Rangers Chairman Defends Appointment Process for Danny Rohl

Chairman Andrew Cavenagh has firmly denied claims that Rangers mishandled the search for a new head coach, insisting the club did not “screw up” despite public perception. While the process appeared “clunky” from the outside, Cavenagh says the internal discussions were well-structured and decisive, ultimately leading to the appointment of Danny Rohl.

Rohl’s Appointment and Perception Challenges

Rangers’ pursuit of a new manager became one of the most talked-about stories in Scottish football this season. The Ibrox hierarchy held talks with several candidates, including Steven Gerrard and Kevin Muscat, before Rohl eventually accepted the role after initially stepping back from discussions.

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Both sporting director Kevin Thelwell and chief executive Patrick Stewart faced criticism from fans over the delay in appointing a successor to Russell Martin. However, Cavenagh was keen to clarify that the pair acted professionally throughout.

“I think the misconception that’s out there that I’d like to just clarify around the names you mentioned is that somehow [Thelwell and Stewart] screwed it up,” said Cavenagh. “I was involved in every single telephone call, every single meeting, every minute with both [Gerrard and Muscat]. And I don’t believe that they didn’t come because they didn’t like Patrick or they didn’t want a sporting director.”

Cavenagh explained that timing was the biggest obstacle in securing either Gerrard or Muscat. “Eventually, it didn’t work largely due to timing on their part, a little bit on our part with the case of Kevin,” he added.

Behind-the-Scenes Moves and Media Confusion

As speculation mounted, Rangers quietly reopened talks with Rohl. Cavenagh revealed that much of what was reported in the media did not reflect the real situation.

“There’s asymmetric information, what’s out in the press versus what is actually happening,” he said. “It looked clunky from the outside perspective. It wasn’t at all clunky from our perspective inside the club.”

The chairman emphasised that once Rohl re-engaged with Rangers, everything moved quickly. “Our focus going forward is not on who didn’t come, it’s on who did come and we’re incredibly happy that Danny Rohl is the head coach of Rangers Football Club.”

No ‘First Choice’ Candidates

Cavenagh dismissed any suggestion that Rohl was third in line behind Gerrard and Muscat. He insisted Rangers had multiple viable candidates during their London-based interviews.

“We interviewed a number of great candidates,” he said. “We spoke to a number of other candidates that you’ve never heard about. We left London 10 days ago having done a whole bunch of meetings and I said to our group how happy I was that we had five candidates, not the three that have been talked about, I was extremely comfortable would be great coaches for Rangers.”

When pressed on why talks with Gerrard and Muscat didn’t lead to an appointment, Cavenagh described both situations as “complicated.”

“They’re halfway around the world, they have families, they’d have to move, they’re coming in mid-season,” he said. “So what you’re trying to do on every candidate is just constantly try to move the ball forward and figure out, ‘can we make this happen’? And again, we’re doing that with five different people at once.”

Rohl Assembles His Rangers Staff

Since taking charge, Danny Rohl has wasted no time in shaping his backroom team. He has brought in Sascha Lense, formerly his performance manager at Sheffield Wednesday, and Matthias Kaltenbach, who previously worked with Ajax, to assist him on the training pitch.

Cavenagh’s confidence in Rohl reflects a club intent on turning a turbulent recruitment process into a new era of stability and progress at Ibrox.