Wednesday 16 October 2019 16:26, UK
Sky Sports pundit Kris Boyd reflects on Rangers' appointment of Ross Wilson as sporting director and examines what it means for the club going forward.
Wilson, who left his role as director of football operations at Southampton, replaced Mark Allen, who left his position as director of football at Ibrox last month after two years in Glasgow.
He spent four-and-a-half years with the Saints after previously working in various roles at Falkirk, Watford and Huddersfield, and will return to Scotland to start working alongside manager Steven Gerrard next month.
Wilson's role will see him dealing with the club's operations and "football infrastructure" and Boyd, who won two Scottish titles, two Scottish Cups and two League Cups in his time with the club, believes Rangers have made a sound appointment.
"When you look at what Ross has done from Falkirk to Southampton a lot of people will say he had the money to spend at Southampton, but he did not have that at Falkirk," he said.
"It is a good opportunity for him to come back up the road, it is exciting times at Rangers. There is no doubt he has got a talent for spotting players.
"Some might say there were already some people in the building when he arrived at Southampton but where they were shopping in that market it is very difficult to go and get the top, top players, and, yes, you are going to get a couple wrong.
"But at Rangers there is an opportunity, especially in Scotland, to go and get in some good players and I'm sure with the networks and contacts he has got he will do a very good job for the club and hopefully that is the case because, for a number of years, there has been a lot of wasted money at there."
He added: "I hope he goes in and does not forget who the football club are, in terms of trying to change everything behind the scenes.
"For me, Mark Allen probably tried to change a lot of things behind the scenes that were pretty irrelevant. The only thing that fans care about are results on the pitch and it is up to Rangers as a football club to deliver now and I feel as though they have got the platform to do that this season."
Despite already building an impressive CV down south, Wilson is still only 36 years old - three years younger than Gerrard, so does Boyd think that will play a part in an interesting dynamic between the pair?
"No, it is a professional business," Boyd said. "Steven Gerrard needs help in terms of being able to bounce things off of people. Ross Wilson was in the job at Southampton for a few years so he knows what it takes.
"Having healthy discussion is good - the last thing that you want is people thinking they are better where they are at than the football club and I think that was maybe the case the last time because some of the stories that you hear were not great.
"I think that the sporting director knows his role, knows what he needs to do. I'm sure he and Steven Gerrard will have discussions every day but as long as Rangers are winning games of football then Ross Wilson's job is easy."
