Patrick Stewart inherited something of a mess at Rangers when he took over as CEO and set about rebuilding the club from top to bottom.
His first job was to fend off criticism of the manager and publicly back Philippe Clement given the squad that he currently has to work with.
There was also a thinly veiled threat, that if results didn’t improve, Rangers would be looking for another boss – and a new appointment suggests that there might finally be some succession planning at work.
- READ MORE: Surprise Scottish Premiership form table sees Rangers in good hands under Philippe Clement
Rangers take next step in contingency planning with Issame Charai
Issame Charai is the new assistant manager of Rangers with the Belgian born coach working his way up to be No.2 of Liam Rosenior at RC Strasbourg.
The 42-year old only joined the French outfit in the summer having steered the Morocco Under-23 team to the semi-finals of the Olympic games and winners of the age group African Cup of Nations.
Ironically, Charai wanted to take man of the moment Hamza Igamane, however, the Rangers No.29 was injured and unable to go.
The current coaching staff are a strange mix of a personal friend, a former manager and experienced coach across Europe, a B team coach with potential and Alex Rae.
There isn’t the obvious definition of roles that Steven Gerrard had when he was manager.
What has Patrick Stewart said about Rangers rebuild review
What might be behind the move is Stewart’s root to branch review of the club being carried out by an external auditor:
“I’m really glad you asked that. This isn’t just another internal review, which will take an inordinate amount of time and produce a report that nobody ever reads,” Stewart said when asked about the review.
“I am going to be bringing in external football people that have experience of working with clubs to help drive growth and success. I think they’ll provide firepower. They’ll also provide expertise so that we’re not just looking at this through a Rangers lens or, in my case, a Manchester United lens.
“Also, they’ll be impartial. They’ve got no axe to grind, no agenda, and they’ll make sure that we can accelerate the process, but also, importantly, support us in executing recommendations as well, so that this doesn’t become one of these reviews that everyone rolls their eyes at and says, not another one. No, this is something that I’m very focused on making a meaningful difference.”
Only time will tell, but someone has made the decision to bring in a new assistant coach to support a manager under pressure, a coach with a burgeoning reputation of attractive football and of getting results.
