Afternoon all, as announced by Rangers literally a minute before I started writing this, the club have parted company with Kevin Thelwell and Patrick Stewart.
Political Mist
After a dismal summer transfer window, many dubious appointments and a general lack of leadership, Rangers have pulled the trigger and removed Thelwell and Stewart from the positions of Sporting Director and Chief Executive Officer respectively.
I was fairly positive on the appointment of both men, both had plenty of experience and I was glad that they’d come in fresh from other positions.
There were worries that given the expansive approach of the new owners that tying ourselves down to two people who were largely only aware of the British football market was risky.
I’ll give some credit to those doubters, they were absolutely bang on the money. The appointment of Russell Martin and mismanagement of the squad this summer spelled the end for the two Englishmen.
How are you faring? Thel-poorly
Patrick Stewart has largely been targeted by fans for his inaction and desire to fade into the background when the club needed a strong figurehead and clear communication.
Kevin Thelwell’s crimes are numerous and easy to list.
The aforementioned disastrous transfer window saw us spend record amounts on bringing in a whole new spine for the team. Yet, despite all this reinforcement we are largely reliant on players who were already at the club and we have a squad that still requires major surgery.
Perhaps the most egregious signing of the window was Youssef Chermiti, the Portuguese forward signed for what was reported to be an initial £8m fee with 2m in add-ons. Leaving aside the fact that the striker has done very little in his professional career to justify such a fee, that Thelwell had already splurged £15m on the striker when in post at Everton sent alarm bells ringing amongst supporters.
Any massive transfer outlay is a risk for a club in Rangers’ position. A massive transfer outlay on a player with a handful of professional appearances in a problem position for the club is the football equivalent of doubling down with a hand of 20 in a game of Blackjack.
Leaving aside the disastrous transfer window, we also saw some questionable club appointments under Thelwell’s stewardship.
Thelwell’s biggest issue seems to be his inability to appoint anyone who he hasn’t worked with before. Nathan Fisher and Dan Purdy joined the club as Head Scout and Technical Director respectively, both worked under Thelwell at Everton.
Jonathan Hunter-Barrett was recently announced as the new Academy Director. He worked at Wolves with Thelwell and didn’t have a glowing record to justify his appointment.
The worst appointment of all though, without doubt, is the appointment of Robin Thelwell, his son, at some position at the club. His weak defence of the appointment at the press conference that followed was laughable. This was already a man that knew he was never going to succeed at Rangers, why try and do it properly when you can just give a bunch of jobs to your mates?
Goodbye Yellow Brick Road
So it’s a “See you never” for Thelwell and Stewart. What now?
In the short term? Director Fraser Thornton will be the acting CEO ahead of a permanent appointment.
In the long term? Andrew Cavanagh and Paraag Marathe have a very very important decision to make.
They’ve already made a mistake with the first set of appointments under their ownership. There’s a good chance that the mismanagement of the club’s squad this summer has maybe set back the project by a few seasons.
Hopefully the owners understand that another set of appointments as poor as Patrick Stewart and Kevin Thelwell will cause any goodwill with fans to evaporate.
Football fans don’t like being treated like they aren’t important, the disconnect from the top to the fans that we saw under the recent Sporting Director and CEO can’t continue.
The next appointment needs to be someone that doesn’t have the level of ego required to appoint their own son and best pals to important posts within the club. They have to understand that they are operating as part of a massive machine and the fuel that powers that machine comes from the stands, not from the boardroom.
Fans will be back onside after this sacking, but things change quickly in football, so the ownership have to act fast, or they will lose the fans just as quickly.