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The most H&H statement ever 😄

It's much more important that we sell Danilo for half decent cash.

You say there we shouldn't be gambling 5m on potential. Diomande cost us £4.5m, Bajrami £3.5m. The only value was Igamane at £1.5m and Jefte at £800k

Poor form. Reminds me of MB sitting watching GVB

The impending departure of Dessers?! Have you read the first post on the thread?!

I'm not entirely sure that's 100% on him. I'd wager the board told him to move many of these guys on at a loss to lower the wage bill, and make the club a more attractive proposition to any future investors by reducing operating costs. He didn't give Goldson a ridiculous 38k per week contract, or sign Lammers. I doubt he is responsible for the misleading communications either. You could also argue 3 of our biggest 4 assets were recruited under his tenure and that £17 million loss could turn into a big profit if Diomande, Igamane and Jefte are moved on this summer or next. (with Raskin being the other, recruited by Beale) We also don't know what his remit or KPI's were. Is it possible he was told by the board to focus on recruiting younger talent with a big up side, rather than win now players. There is a bit of criticism aimed at him around the Cortes signing, and while I think its valid. Mainly because we shouldn't be gambling 5 million on potential. if we spend 5 million it should be for a nailed on mainstay of the team, a guy that plays every game unless injured. Cortes is 21 and can still turn into a good player for us. Look at Raskin as an example. It took him 2 years to get fit and finally turn up.

Off course there is, but there is also a lot worse than Dessers out there. Point being, be careful what you wish for......

It seems like it's down to Ancelotti and Martin. I think you know what you get with Martin, good and bad, which I think would be effective against the bread and butter. Ancelotti is a complete unknown. There's maybe a bigger upside with Ancelotti, but it's a gamble. To be fair, it would be a brave decision to go against the fans' overriding negative feelings towards Martin, which could push the decision towards Ancelotti on its own.

Thank you. I would disagree, and that's fine.

Translation: we've got our manager and you'll know in a few days.

With regards Martin, it was more the nature of the results rather than the relegation itself. 5 points from 16 games, with a team that looked relatively disorganised and kept making the same mistakes. Kieran McKenna's team was relegated but Ipswich's approach to the season was totally different to Southampton's. 49ers Enterprises took over Leeds in Sept 2023 (after they had been relegated), and they lost to Southampton in the play-off final and then won the Championship the following year, so showed progression. Their running of Leeds hasn't been all roses but there's enough there to suggest that it's going to be more positive than it's been over the past couple of seasons and appear to be running the club in a professional manner, and have put cash into the club already with more to come, to develop the stadium.

His record elsewhere is unimpressive, his style of football is old hat (and boring to watch) and he refuses to change it, no matter how badly it's going.

While Koppen cut the wage bill by five million, we still then spent £12m on players that made the team worse, and yes we performed worse this season than last, significantly so. He overseen the selling of decent assets that we told we'd received £5m for overall, but was really £800k. So between what the spent, what he lost, contributed to the £17m loss we're operating at. He was careless and not very effective. Was right to be moved on if didn't fit with new plan.

As long as its not Rousseau Martin i'll be happy.

It’s a fair question. MK Dons Pass marks for steering them from relegation the first season and lifting them to 13th the next season. They finished 3rd after he left. Hard to judge without knowing more about it. Certainly looks a decent achievement, without being outstanding. Swansea Finished 6th and 4th the seasons before Martin, conceding 53 and 39. Martin took them from 4th and 39 GA to 15th and 68 GA (74% increase in goals conceded). Second season 10th and 64 GA. 5 points better than first season. After he left, Swansea finished 14th but only conceded a more normal 57. I’d say not really a success. Major red flags there for me too, specifically for Rangers. Southampton Newly relegated after a long time in the EPL, so definitely expected to bounce back up. Finished 4th conceding a lot more than teams around them again, 63, showing it wasn’t a Swansea problem. Gained promotion via the playoffs so of course he has to get credit for getting it over the line. And it suggests he certainly has something about him as a manager. But for me, more red flags, and I think Southampton expected top 2 having the second highest wage budget and it went down to the playoffs, which is a bit like penalties in terms of uncertainty. EPL season, won’t judge him too much other than to say he certainly didn’t surprise anyone did he? Almost record breakingly bad whilst being 17th in terms of wage budget. Is it a bad record? No. Just some red flags in my opinion, especially in terms of whether he is a good match for Rangers.

Thelwell: “[The search for a new manager] has been progressing well, and the club and I look forward to bringing that to a conclusion in the coming days."

Fans have already made up their mind, which is fair enough. I just wish they could articulate their reasons, rather than going on vibes.

KEVIN THELWELL has today begun his role as Sporting Director as the summer of change here at Rangers moves up a gear. Thelwell, 51, was at the Rangers Training Centre this morning for the first time, following the end of a successful tenure with Premier League side Everton. He arrives just 72 hours after the club’s majority ownership changed hands to a consortium of investors led by Andrew Cavenagh and 49ers Enterprises. Speaking on his first day, Thelwell said: “It’s a great honour to be joining Rangers, particularly at such an exciting moment in the club’s history. “While there has been significant work going on in the background prior to my arrival, that naturally accelerates from today, and top of the priority list will be the appointment of a new Head Coach for our men’s first-team. “That search has been progressing well, and the club and I look forward to bringing that to a conclusion in the coming days. "This is a new chapter for Rangers, and while we recognise success won’t come easy, our goal is clear: we need to win. “My focus is on delivering that, with discipline and ambition. We’ll give everything to move this club forward as quickly and sustainably as we can.” It can also be confirmed that Nils Koppen will be leaving his role as Technical Director. Nils has played an important part in reshaping the club’s football operations over the past 18 months. He will leave with thanks from the club for his contribution and professionalism, and best wishes for the future. To support a smooth handover, Koppen is currently working closely with Thelwell and Dan Purdy, who has joined Rangers as the new Technical Director. Purdy arrives from Everton, where he has been part of the football department since 2014. He has held a variety of roles across scouting and analysis, most recently serving as Head of Recruitment. He will now lead on all aspects of our recruitment and talent identification pathway, spanning the men’s, women’s, and academy programmes. https://www.rangers.co.uk/article/kevin-thelwell-begins-role-as-sporting-director/3o0nLYFFL8KYgLCCZE5AZV

Point being, there's far better out there than Dessers. The problem is having a good scouting network that can find the gems.

Cost-wise, it wont be cheap but it is likely to be cheaper than flying the squad overseas for an equivalent period. Given where we are, with the takeover only just now completed and not having a manager, it seems like this is probably the best compromise available, other than just staying at home. Given the location, it will be relatively easy to organise closed-door friendlies with English/touring clubs. I also wouldn't be surprised to see at least one away game down south that the fans can travel to around the same time. Also, I've stayed at the St Georges complex - its very nice and I've no doubt a number of fans have already booked to stay at the same time as the club are visiting.

I heard we're training at St George's to wind up Scottish nationalists. So it's worth every penny, as far as I'm concerned.

I'm always a little wary of some of the opinions passed off as facts on some podcasts. Much of it feels like it was briefed and you have to ask whose agenda that fulfils. Everton are shopping in very different market to Rangers. The much quoted £20 million would just about cover the fee Everton paid for Ndiaye, they paid a similar amount for an Irish right back who I've literally never heard of. Let's see what they know about the players Rangers can afford to sign. Koppen at least understood the market Rangers need to operate in. I felt Koppen was an easy scapegoat for a lot of last season. He was told to reduce the wage bill by a significant amount. He did that without making the side significantly worse than it was the season before. It wasn't better but I'm not sure that was ever realistic. The club had so much going on behind the scenes in the last 12 months that you wonder how any of them were able to work successfully. Perhaps a period of stability is upon us and the new team will benefit from that. I hope so.

I noticed that as well. A total waste of money, and it will be a considerable amount of money at that. A week's accommodation for probably around 50 people plus the training stuff, laundry etc all of which we have sufficient and very similar standards at home. I could understand if they wanted warm weather training and stick on a friendly at the end to pay for it, but this just seems ridiculous.

I might be wrong, but weren't our new owners minority shareholders when Leeds were relegated?

How come getting Southampton promoted to the EPL but failing to keep them there is seen as failure for Russell Martin but getting Leeds relegated then promoted to the EPL is seen as success for our new owners?