Rangers have held a press conference after the appointment of Danny Rohl as head coach.
Sporting director Kevin Thelwell has backed his son becoming head of recruitment at Rangers - after previously pulling the plug on a move to Everton.
Robbie Thelwell has joined the Ibrox recruitment team and will report into technical director Dan Purdy after time at Norwich City. He also has senior scout experience at Aston Villa but during time at Everton in the same role, Rangers’ sporting director pulled the plug on his son joining Everton, despite Purdy wanting it.
Opting to bring him into Rangers has sparked anger from fans amid lamented summer shopping and poor Premiership form, but the sporting director insists it’s a decision that he hopes prove correct. Thelwell said: "Optically, we all agreed when we made this step to appoint Robbie that he was going to be seen in a particular way. But the reality of the situation is that we want to bring the very best talent here to Rangers. My view on Robbie's career and his situation is he didn't need my help in football.
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"He worked at Aston Villa as a senior scout. He then moved to Norwich City as head of scouting, then got promoted to player pathways manager. And before we recruited Robbie, two Premier League clubs wanted to take him. Dan Purdy, the technical director he'll work for, wanted to take him to Everton.
"When I was there, I told him that shouldn't be the case and I didn't think he was ready. But when the situation came around again and Dan wanted to take him again, it was very difficult to say no. What we did do, right at the very start of that process, was to talk to Patrick Stewart, Andrew Cavenagh, Paraag Marathe and the board about the situation. I was extremely transparent about it. Robbie probably went through a more rigorous process than anybody else who is employed by this club, truth be known. What I do know is that he will work 25/8 to be successful in this club."
Chairman Andrew Cavenagh also backed the appointment, adding: “There is no getting it past anyone, but Kevin was incredibly transparent and brought it to us before anything happened. From a transparency viewpoint, it couldn't have been more transparent. We knew about the appointment, we approved the appointment, and we did because we went through a rigorous process to get Robbie into the seat. We believe that he is eminently qualified."
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Thelwell also defended a £10m package put together for Youssef Chermiti, after the striker he signed at Everton failed to score in Merseyside, following time at Sporting Lisbon. The sporting director said: “Youssef is a player who's got huge potential. I've never doubted him in any way, shape or form. Danny will help get the best from him. It's very early days for Youssef. He's a young talent, and with young talents they sometimes take a little time.
"But I'm certain over the course of his career here, he'll prove he's a very good player. If we were to look at the first eight games, in the league in particular, we haven't seen the best of any of the players, have we? I can completely understand why you would ask the question about recruitment, and whether the recruitment has been good enough.
"I believe these players are much better than they have shown so far, and with Danny in charge, and a different style of play, he'll bring the best out of them. But ultimately he'll not only help us get better performances from them, but he'll help us to win games. Youssef has been a top talent for a number of years. You know my history with him.
"I signed him at Everton and he had some Premier League experience there. I can understand why some fans would say, 'Well, come on, he hasn't got the resume yet that shows he'll be capable of doing X, Y and Z for our team or being sold for this number or that number'. But in reality, if he had even a small resume he wouldn't, with some of the qualities he's got, be coming to Rangers."
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