Rangers appoint Stephen Wright, Peter Lovenkrands, Andy Little and Brian Gilmour to academy set-up
Wednesday 24 May 2017 15:55, UK
Rangers have appointed four former players as part of changes to the club's academy coaching setup ahead of next season.
Stephen Wright, Peter Lovenkrands, Andy Little and Brian Gilmour will return to the club in various coaching roles, while Graeme Murty, who is currently the head development squad coach, will also take on the role of head of academy coaching.
Murty, who took charge of the first team on an interim basis following the departure of Mark Warburton in February, will "manage the academy coaching phases from a technical perspective and take a major role in the development of the academy coaches and curriculum across all ages" as part of his new role"
The changes come with Murty implementing the 'Rangers Performance Coaching Culture' which will look at "coach education and development, coach behaviours, coach action plans, coach mentoring and will use a range of new ideas to accelerate the development of the academy's coaches".
Wright, who spent three years at Ibrox but saw his playing time limited due to injury, has been appointed as the club's head of intermediate academy and school coach and will be the lead coach with the U15s and manage the coaches and setup in the U13s to U15s.
Lovenkrands, who won two Scottish titles, one Scottish Cup and three League Cups at Ibrox, will return on a part-time basis to work with a team in the intermediate phase.
Little will work with the children's academy, on a part-time basis with the U8s, U9s and U10s age groups, while Gilmour, who was a product of the Rangers system, has a part-time coaching role with the intermediate academy.
"Rangers Performance Coaching Culture is another exciting initiative we have been working on for some time," head of the academy, Craig Mulholland, told rangers.co.uk.
"Graeme will lead the project along with the new heads of each academy phase. It is a great time for the new coaches to be joining us as they will, alongside some top existing staff, be challenged to become experts in their field.
"I know the young players will be excited to be working with ex-Rangers players however they are joining the academy, not as a consequence of being ex-players, but because we believe they have the qualities, potential and attributes which will assist us in taking our academy coaching to a new level."
