Nils Koppen has given himself to do much work to do at Rangers after becoming the club’s new technical director.
That’s the sympathetic view of former Rangers midfielder Derek Ferguson who almost felt a bit sorry for the Belgian, who was originally brought in as director of football recruitment.
Almost a year on since joining the Ibrox giants, Koppen will now take on more responsibilities at the club, with Rangers confirming he will be in charge of the men’s academy, medical and football operations, performance and analysis departments.
Ferguson thinks Koppen is an asset to Rangers and defended his work in Govan so far. But speaking on the Open Goal podcast, he fears Koppen will overwhelm himself with the added accountability.
Derek Ferguson expresses Nils Koppen concern
Asked on Koppen’s appointment as technical director, Ferguson said: “Listen, I quite like the guy Koppen. He looks down to earth, grounded and means well.
“He’s trying to do the right things but I think he’s taking on far too much at a club like Rangers.
“Some of his signings have been alright. It’s been a wee bit hit and miss which you’ll always get with recruitment. But I’ve watched him and listened to him a bit and that’s how you gauge people.
“I’ve took to him. He means well and you know he’s going to work his backside off, but has he not just took far too much on? Of course he has, Rangers are a big club.
“He’s come in as head of the recruitment, he’s now head of the academy, he’s taking something on to do with the medical (department). It’s far too much.
“By God, how’s his mental health going to be if it doesn’t go that well? I don’t know if that decision should have been made because there’s not a chairman in place, there’s no chief executive in place.
“We need to do things right. It just seems a bit, ‘oh well, we’ve got him here, we’ll just do it on the cheap.'”
Ferguson’s brother Barry advocates Koppen promotion
Former Rangers skipper Barry Ferguson has taken the view that Koppen is the perfect fit for the technical director role due to the Belgian’s enthusiasm towards developing young players at the club.
Barry Ferguson wrote in the Daily Record: “I get the scepticism. Trust me, I totally understand why some Rangers fans have their doubts about the promotion of Nils Koppen to the role of technical director at Ibrox.
“Let’s be honest, Koppen has a lot of people to win over given that the big summer rebuild he oversaw hasn’t exactly worked out the way the supporters were hoping it would.
“But, even so, there is something that excites me about Koppen’s new position. And that’s got everything to do with his views on the need for Rangers to be producing their own young players and getting them ready for the first team.
“If that’s going to be his main emphasis now that he’s been given greater authority to move the club forward then, let me tell you, I’m all for it.”
