Rangers announcement contains big surprise as key name omitted | OneFootball

Rangers have just dropped a massive piece of news: Kevin Thelwell is joining the club. But in the hullabaloo surrounding the announcement, not one word has been mentioned about Nils Koppen. That’s strange, isn’t it? You’d think they’d pay at least a small token of tribute to a guy who’s been hugely credited with re-shaping the first team and even the academy. Why so disrespectful? It’s a bit like trying to leave out the mention of our midfield dynamo in a goal that he’s “assisted” when, for example, if he’s given a killer pass to the striker.

The arrival of Kevin Thelwell at Rangers is making headlines, and for good reason. Thelwell might not be a household name, but in the world of football management and administration, he carries a lot of weight. His reputation is more or less that of a director of football or head of recruitment who not only builds winning teams but can also craft a philosophy for the club. Thelwell’s last job was at Wolves, where he filled that very role. But before he even started at Molineux, he had already built up a considerable amount of experience at the likes of Watford, Derby County, and Wolverhampton itself. Despite all that, leaving Nils Koppen out of the conversation feels wrong, especially since fans believed in his potential as a coaching asset and saw him as a big part of the club’s future and its development of young players.

We must remember that Rangers have experienced significant internal changes before—think back to when Steven Gerrard left. On that occasion, everything seemed pretty up in the air. However, in this particular instance, and with much less clarity, Rangers have made what feels like a similarly sweeping move. Fans of the club have been left to wonder what the deal is with Koppen. Is he still a part of the new backroom staff being put together? Does he fit into the new plans at all? If not, why is he being edged out? Could it be that the role he plays in our squad isn’t seen as anything more than the functional equivalent of—say—an assistant manager or a personal trainer?

Ultimately, football is as much a battlefield off the pitch as on it. The emergence of Kevin Thelwell as a key figure at Rangers, followed by a great fanfare, suggests that the club might be about to make some serious tactical and strategic changes. Thelwell is a direct replacement for Ross Wilson, who left for Nottingham Forest. He comes with a mandate, as Wilson did before him, to make the club richer and more successful, mainly through the talents of the players in the first-team squad and the backup brigade coming through from the academy. That’s why he’s in charge of the performance department.