Rangers have announced the appointment of Belgian recruitment guru Nils Koppen as the club’s new technical director.
The 39-year-old joined Rangers in January last season and oversaw a substantial rebuild of the club’s squad in the summer transfer window.
With Rangers going through a substantial period of corporate restructuring, Nils Koppen has been promoted from his previous role as director of recruitment.
Rangers chairman John Gilligan has hailed the appointment by claiming that Nils has ‘impressed’ during his year in Glasgow and that he is ‘extremely well suited’ to the role (Rangers).
Now, the ex-PSV recruitment chief has been speaking to RangersTV about what the role actually details and what the change really means.
Nils Koppen on Rangers technical director role
“It’s a big honour for myself,” said Koppen. “It’s a challenge that I’m ready for and really looking forward to.
“It’s about getting all the support behind the scenes at the highest level possible.
“The support of the men’s first-team to achieve their objectives and their goals and in the end try to be a winning Rangers on the park.
“It’s about creating an environment where accountability, quality and togetherness are key moving forward.
“It’s about pushing people to get the best out of themselves and, frankly, to deliver within their domain.
“And in the end with the ultimate goal to be a winning Rangers on the park because winning is all that matters in this club.”
Nils Koppen on Rangers recruitment
Nils Koppen has also been explaining how the promotion will affect his role in recruitment at Ibrox.
The Gers are still very much in the midst of a squad rebuild with the January window expected to be a busy one as the club continues to move forward.
The Belgian has explained that he will still very much be central to the club’s recruitment planning and insists there is a strong structure in place at Ibrox.
With changes also potentially on the horizon in this regard, Koppen insists for the time being he will continue to focus on player recruitment in Glasgow.
“I think the building blocks of the recruitment department are already in place,” said Koppen.
“To be honest I’m still going to be very close to that recruitment department because I consider it as one of my key responsibilities within my new role.
“To be a part of that very important strategic pillar that player trading is in the club and we have to get better in and we have to keep on improving in that way.
“So for the short term there’s not going to be a lot of changes within the department.
“I’m not excluding that it’s not going to happen mid to long term somewhere down the road but I am quite positive about the quality of my department.
“The structure, what we have in place, what we structured a couple of months ago, so all my confidence in these guys, but I will stay very close to it.
“Everything is on the way to prepare for the January window. I’m still going to be a big part of that.
“So yeah, for the moment we’re not going to change the structure of the department.”
