Former Rangers and Arsenal player Philippe Senderos is currently serving as the technical director of Servette FC.
Senderos, who turned 37 on Monday, played for eleven different clubs during his playing career and won over 50 senior international caps for Switzerland.
His stint at Ibrox was brief and underwhelming.
He signed a one-year deal in August 2016 after a successful trial but was sent off on his debut and made just three further appearances before being released in May 2017.
Senderos retired from professional football two years later but wasn’t out of the game for long.
After he completed a course with the Spanish FA, Swiss top-flight club Servette – for whom he made his senior playing breakthrough in 2002 – hired him as their technical director and it’s clear that he’s loving the role.
“It does feel like coming home,” he told The Athletic. “I’m back here in Geneva, living as an adult in my home city, which I’ve never done before.”
“A lot of things are familiar: the mentality, the environment. I know a lot of the people around the club. And my goal is to give others the opportunity I got here in Servette: the chance to make a career in football.”
Many footballers struggle to move on after retiring but Senderos’ transition from the pitch to the boardroom appears to have been a seamless one.
He’s not the only former Rangers defender currently working as a technical director, either.
Former Gers skipper and assistant manager Davie Weir recently took up the same role at Premier League club Brighton and Hove Albion on an interim basis.
Maybe Senderos – who impressively speaks English, Italian, German, French, Spanish and Portuguese – will also return to England one day, where he played for Arsenal, Everton, Fulham and Aston Villa.
But for now, he’s settled in Switzerland and Servette are faring reasonably well.
They sit fifth in the Swiss Super League 21 matches into the season, a very comfortable 14 points clear of the relegation play-off spot.
Meanwhile, the threat of suspension is set to loom over two Rangers players in the first leg of the upcoming Europa League tie against Borussia Dortmund.
