Nils Koppen had quite the mandate at Rangers this summer.

Alongside manager Philippe Clement and the rest of the newly formed Rangers recruitment board, the Gers were tasked with rebuilding a squad in disarray.

Out went 16 names from the campaign previously, in have come a number of young talents who might have big futures but face a rude Ibrox awakening.

Ex-PSV recruitment guru Nils Koppen is a man with connections across the global game with the Belgian’s expertise and network allowing the Gers to expand into new markets.

And as one of the Rangers director of recruitment’s most-hyped summer recruits starts making a name for himself at Ibrox, the Belgian still has a Serie A trick up his sleeve.

Clinton Nsiala waits in the Rangers wings

Moroccan striker Hamza Igamane is the man of the moment at Rangers after an impressive cameo v Dundee United.

But the Gers support have had to wait to see the talented 21-year-old hitman in action following Igamane’s £1.7m move from Morocco this summer.

And whilst Rangers fans want to see more of Igamane this season, there’s another youngster waiting in the wings who will also hope to leave a big impression.

Rangers struck a deal to bring talented AC Milan defender Clinton Nsiala to Ibrox at the beginning of the summer but as of yet fans haven’t had a glimpse of the player.

Turning out for the B Team and yet to make his professional debut, Clement has been clear that he’ll be taking his time introducing Nsiala to the squad.

But the 20-year-old French defender is waiting in the wings and like Igamane, joined Rangers much to the delight of the club’s ambitious coaching staff.

Youthful energy sweeping through Ibrox

There are a number of young players currently impressing at Rangers after a summer overhaul at the club.

Whilst Hamza Igamane takes the plaudits, Mohamed Diomande and Connor Barron have cemented their place in the starting XI as a positive midfield duo.

Brazilian left-back Jefte has also been impressing, whilst Oscar Cortes returned from injury against Dundee United and looked bright in the first 45 minutes at Tannadice.

If Rangers can introduce Clinton Nsiala into the team at the right time suddenly the club’s squad takes on a youthful complexion in the vision of Philippe Clement.

The likes of Dujon Sterling, Ross McCausland, Nicolas Raskin, Ridvan Yilmaz and Rabbi Matondo are also young players in and around the squad who have a big opportunity at Ibrox.

Europa League squad suggests Rangers got £2.5m transfer call wrong as injury strikes again

Injuries and Rangers have been so commonplace in recent seasons that the Ibrox support have become somewhat conditioned to them.

The Gers have suffered at the hands of poor fitness management, with several of the club’s highest paid stars spending long-spells on the sidelines at crucial junctures of the season.

Philippe Clement has made it his mission to expel the Rangers injury curse and is making steady progress as the fixtures start to come thick and fast.

But yet another injury could have the Belgian manager ruing one of the club’s most high-profile end of summer transfer decisions.

Rangers turned down chance to shift Rabbi Matondo

Heading into the final few days of the transfer window, Rangers still had plenty of work to conduct.

he Ibrox side were trying to ship out the likes of Ben Davies, Scott Wright and Todd Cantwell, whilst Neraysho Kasanwirjo and Nedim Bajrami eventually joined before the deadline.

Another name which Rangers could’ve shipped out, but chose to hold on to, was Welsh winger Rabbi Matondo.

The 24-year-old had loan offers from Blackburn Rovers and Norwich City chucked out by Rangers as Philippe Clement looked to finally access the talents of the former Manchester City youth.

But only days later did Rabbi Matondo put in a disastrous shift in the Old Firm derby, losing touch with Alistair Johnston for Celtic’s opener and eventually going off injured.

It was a moment which brings into greater focus Rangers’ summer transfer decision over the winger, especially since a deal for Southampton’s Samuel Edozie collapsed at the final moment.

And not only because the on-pitch commitment of the £2.5m winger is under the microscope.

Welsh winger adds to Ibrox injury issues

Whilst many fans felt the ex-Schalke winger had ducked out of the Celtic Park cauldron, Matondo was forced to pull out of the Welsh international squad.

Things went from bad to worse for Rangers when the Ibrox side announced the club’s Europa League squad.

With that decision an indication that Rabbi Matondo has a more long-term issue, Rangers manager Philippe Clement also named the winger alongside Ridvan Yilmaz and Danilo as a more long-term absentee.

Given Rangers had the chance to shift Matondo out the door in the summer, the decision to keep the winger around looks to have already backfired.

Not only is the injury-prone attacker now back on the treatment table, but the Gers are a winger down with the options in the position increasingly limited.

Kieran Dowell had to start at right-wing in the absence of Vaclav Cerny against Dundee United.

Matondo is a talented player but every single time he begins to get a run of games at Ibrox he breaks down again and it’s the same old story this season as it has been the previous two.

Given the Europa League squad decision, it suggests it could be towards the end of the year before we see Rabbi Matondo back in the Rangers team.

If the Gers had farmed the winger out on loan to Norwich, perhaps Matondo would’ve been tearing it up in the English Championship.

But at least we’d have had an available option in his replacement as injury once again threatens to have a big impact on the Ibrox club’s campaign.

Former Premier League player reveals the bombshell that’s bothering Rangers supporters regarding Celtic Ibrox’s expected comeback

Celtic currently hold a lead over Philippe Clement’s Rangers, and the last man to break their stranglehold on the title was Robinson’s former England teammate, Steven Gerrard. He was Ibrox gaffer in 2021 when they last won the league.

The ex-goalkeeper can see Gerrard making a Rangers return, with his current job in Saudi Arabia with Al Ettifaq. It’ll be a different Rangers to the one he left though, with fans worried about widening bank balances. Robinson told Football Insider: “They always say never go back, don’t they?.

Pressure to nominate a CEO is increasing, therefore Gers are advised who to choose.

Rangers hunt for a new CEO has taken a dramatic twist this week with John Bennett still to replace the now Saudi Arabia based James Bisgrove.

Once reported as an imminent announcement, St Mirren’s vice-chairman dropped out of contention this week only for former Club England managing director Adrian Bevington to almost immediately throw his hat into the ring.

If Bennett is to get his “best in class” dream, the chairman must start making appointments who are capable of taking Rangers to another level.

Adrian Bevington details best person for Rangers CEO job

Stewart Robertson had experience on a local level and Bisgrove had connections in UEFA, however, neither will have had the contacts that Bevington will have acquired in 20 years at the FA as well as his recent work as a consultant.

Part of this recent work for his own company saw him act as a representative for a potential investor from the USA, something that didn’t go down well in the Ibrox boardroom.

With no dog in the fight, Bevington holds no grudges at the failed proposal, however, he knows exactly what is needed for Rangers this time around, as told to The Daily Record:

“This is a very different set of circumstances. It’s not for me to say what anyone on the board at Rangers Football Club actually wants at this moment.

“What I would say is, for a club of a stature that it is, with the passionate fan base that it has, whichever direction they chose to go in, it’s a huge job. And whoever comes in has to have a real good understanding of the industry.

“They must have good football intelligence, business intelligence and, importantly, have a really strong network of people both in the UK, in Scotland obviously, but also internationally as well.

“It’s really important in my opinion for a club like Rangers. When you compare Rangers to Celtic at the moment, who are going very well, they are also very well represented in the European Club Association as one example.

“The ultimate aim for Rangers is to be at the top table of every big organisation. I don’t want to come across as someone who is talking myself up too much but obviously I do have a lot of contacts across the game.”

Rangers fall from grace shows the need for elite level operator

Bevington is right.

Cast your mind back to 1992/93 and Rangers were at the top table of UEFA with Celtic a poor cousin amongst Europe’s elite.

Secretary Campbell Ogilvie was the brainchild behind the Champions League and the reason why the European Cup format ceased to exist.

With Rangers being one of the first eight clubs represented on the eight star football emblem, it is a reminder of how far the club has fallen in stature.

There is nothing that can be done about the financial disparity, but there is no excuse for not being run like a big club.

Bevington has spoken more sense in the last few days than anyone from the club has since Dave King left his position as Rangers chairman.

A proper reset is exactly what Rangers need and a figure head who has the reputation needed to bring respect back within the halls of Ibrox.

Is Bevington the man to bring it back?

Mikel Arteta can serve as Rangers inspiration as Arsenal reward manager’s growing legacy

In football’s revolving door, Rangers once stood out as a shining example of long-term managerial loyalty.

The Ibrox side have always prided themselves on the low number of permanent managers they’ve had in the club’s extensive 152 year history.

Arsenal back ex-Rangers man Mikel Arteta

If ever anyone needed proof of the courage of Mikel Arteta, they need only look at the Spaniard’s switch to Rangers in 2002.

Still only a teenager, Rangers splashed out £6m to bring Arteta to Glasgow and it was a crucial first foray into British football which acted as a foundation in the talented playmaker’s career.

Whilst the midfielder would go on to carve out a Premier League legacy with Everton and Arsenal, it was in the SPL where the kid cut his teeth.

Walking into the tension of the SPL title tussle, Arteta famously scored on his Old Firm debut whilst it was the teenager who kept his nerve to score a title-winning penalty on that fateful day against Dunfermline.

Fast forward 21 years and the man from San Sebastián is at the helm of an at one point helpless Premier League giant in Arsenal.

Now almost five years on from when he first took over an Arsenal in disarray, the Spaniard has been rewarded for the Gunners’ resurgence with a new three-year contract.

A football tactician and managerial leader from the school of Pep Guardiola, the student has the faith of North London to one day surpass the master and break Manchester City’s grip on English football.

Rangers may well be taking notes.

Philippe Clement going through similar at Ibrox

Whilst the current situation at Rangers is more akin to fellow former British titan turned basket case Manchester United, the Gers are going through an Arsenal-esque evolution.

With Nils Koppen playing the role of Brazilian sporting director Edu, Rangers have worked tirelessly to shift out underperforming high-earners and convince a number of young talents that their future is blue.

Edu famously said that with high-earners underperforming you’re club is ‘dead’ and Arsenal took a ruthless approach to an overpaid squad who had reduced the club’s expectations.

Bringing through the likes of Bukayo Saka and Gabriel Martinelli, Arteta has also signed talented young players who needed career inspiration such as Martin Odegaard or Kai Havertz.

At the same time – in the cases of Declan Rice and Ben White – the Gunners have targeted the best homegrown players from other clubs south of the border.

On a much smaller scale, it’s a more long-term approach that will have to be echoed at Rangers if the club is to find success.

Philippe Clement too is a former player who lives and breathes football and who, like Mikel Arteta, places man management at the forefront of his process.

We doubt the Belgian will get the time Arteta did to present a challenge to this country’s dominant force.

But time is something Clement undoubtedly needs to overhaul the squad and get a rocky Rangers back on the straight and narrow.

Most importantly, in the reign of Arteta there were more than a few moments of uncertainty as a bloodthirsty media and frustrated support demanded immediate change.

Arsenal are reaping the benefits of commitment to their leader who has had to so often shoulder the burden of a former giant’s failures long before he came in the door.

Rangers too will need similar patience as Philippe Clement looks to put an end to this culture of endemic failure which has plagued the Gers over the last few seasons.

Cult Rangers hero lays forth a strategy to overcome the odds while refusing to acknowledge the crucial fact about Celtic.

Big Marv was a big believer but that’s only one thing struggling Gers will need to answer their prayers

It’s a mantra that’s wearing thin for Rangers fans right now. Keep believing? Even the man who coined the phrase 20 years ago, admits that’s getting tougher given the current state of affairs at Ibrox.

But, as everyone knows, Marvin Andrews isn’t a guy who loses faith. And he says, despite the trials and tribulations at his old club, they CAN turn things around this season. Granted, he has called out Philippe Clement’s players and urged them to show a bit of character and responsibility for their failings.

Andrews feels the Rangers dressing-room is crying out for a figurehead, like his old team-mate Barry Ferguson. The former Gers skipper had to sit in the Celtic Park stands on Sunday watching a 3-0 Old Firm humiliation. But the big Trinidadian will never stop believing. After all, he spent his whole career proving people wrong. From humble beginnings on a Caribbean island to winning a title on Helicopter Sunday for Gers in 2005, Andrews likes defying the odds.

But he only achieved what he did by having resilience. And that’s what Andrews says Rangers must show now as they trail their Glasgow rivals on and off the park. As he weighed up the situation at Ibrox after that derby defeat, the former centre-back told MailSport: “That phrase – keep believing – will always come up at Rangers in situations like this.

“Whenever the club are in a bit of difficulty, I hear fans using it. And you HAVE to believe you can turn things around.

“I’m not in the dressing-room so I don’t know the mindset of these players. But they’re obviously in a tough place – everyone can see that Celtic are much stronger than us. So it looks dull and gloomy right now for supporters.

“But bad starts can have good endings. And that’s what every Rangers fan has to hope for. It’s been a terrible start.

“The manager is going through a rebuilding process and, along with the stadium issue, it’s been messy. You just hope they can somehow have a positive ending in 2025. It’s about character and mindset. Without that, you just can’t succeed.

“I had to change my mindset when I signed for Rangers. Once I put on that jersey, all I had to do was win. Nothing less. I live my life a bit like that now. Being at Rangers taught me a lot.

“The fans demand from you to win. And that’s not a bad thing. It’s a mindset for life, not just football.And the players need to understand that very quickly.

“When you play for a club of Rangers’ magnitude, the scrutiny is so high and every mistake is highlighted. That makes it difficult for you if you’re not strong enough mentally.”

When Andrews moved from Livingston to Rangers in 2004, Celtic had just been crowned champions by 17 points. It was widely accepted that they were top dogs in the city.

But Alex McLeish’s side turned the following campaign on its head by clinching the league on that dramatic final day at Easter Road. So what does it take to topple a seemingly superior rival?

Andrews said: “First of all, you have to develop team spirit. There has to be a togetherness there, to defy the odds. A mindset where everyone is pulling in the same direction.

“I don’t know what the mood is like within the club at the moment or if there is any camaraderie. But the team I played in had big characters. Guys like myself, Dado Prso, Nacho Novo, Fernando Ricksen and Sotirios Kyrgiakos.

“Barry came back in January and we also had Alex Rae, who is back at the club now. All of these guys were big personalities. And most were Rangers men who knew what it meant to play for the club.

“That’s the first thing you need – a spirit and a belief you can turn it. I hope the manager and the players can create that now even if it looks against the odds.

“There was a moment when I realised what it took to play for Rangers. During one of my first training sessions we were doing a passing drill and I made a bad pass.

“I remember McLeish looking at me and he said: ‘Marv, you’re not at Livingston any more’. Right there, the penny dropped.

“After that I learned about the history of the club and how all Rangers know is winning. I came from clubs when you could draw or lose and it was no big deal.

“When you draw at Rangers it’s a disaster and if you lose, it’s worse. And if you lose to your biggest rivals – it’s worse again.That’s what I mean about mentality. Playing for Rangers is about more than skill and ability.”

When the TV camera panned to legendary former captain Ferguson at Parkhead last Sunday, it felt like a seminal moment for Rangers. It was clear he was watching a side devoid of the leadership – and quality – he possessed in a blue shirt.

Andrews says Clement needs a Ferguson type in his team but also for the players already there to stand up and be counted. He said: “Barry came through the youth system and grew up as Rangers through and through.

“You need someone with that Barry Ferguson attitude in the team. Barry had the right mindset that I’ve been talking about. I can only presume that the manager is trying to instil that in the players now.

“They might be skilful and talented but if you don’t have the right attitude, it’s not going to happen for you. Also, players have to take responsibility.

“In modern football everyone wants to blame the manager. When a player makes a bad pass or a mistake, the manager gets the blame.

“When the team loses, it’s the manager’s fault. At some point, players have to take responsibility.

“That’s how I grew up playing football – if you make a mistake, you put your hands up and do better next time. I think Rangers have a situation like that now.”

Steve Clarke has to select this Scotland squad to play Poland and make the necessary configuration modification to end the lethargy.

Scotland need a new blueprint after Euros failure

Hibs boss David Gray left fuming after going up against ‘completely dominating’ Celtic

David Grey, the Hibernian manager, is not having a good day after seeing his club lose to Celtic for the second straight week.

Before defeating them 3-1 at Celtic Park earlier today, Brendan Rodgers’ team defeated them 2-0 at Easter Road on Sunday.

Similar to their first meeting, the Bhoys scored early on in the Scottish League Cup match thanks to a goal from Daizen Maeda.

Despite receiving harsh criticism from his coaching staff, Grey believes his players keep making the same mistakes and bemoans the way Celtic dominated the game.

David Grey is upset after losing to Celtic in the League Cup.
After the full-time whistle, Grey told his own team’s media channel that he was “angry.” He then used The Herald to provide a more thorough warning to his players.

“I feel like I’m repeating myself here because of what happened last weekend,” the Hibs manager remarked. We had the early advantage in the game, but after Celtic made their first forward pass and an own mistake, we lost the goal. which is unacceptable, particularly in light of what we discussed before to the game.

“Coming here at any time is a tough enough test, but you can’t give that calibre of opposition a goal of a start.”

At Celtic Park, during the Premier Sports Cup match between Celtic and Hibernian, Alistair Johnston of Celtic and Rocky Bushri of Hibernian compete…

“Then, we were out of the game for the first half hour until we were able to come back into it after a set piece with a nice header and finish. But until then, Celtic was absolutely dominating, so we had to adjust the strategy a little bit to make ourselves even more difficult to beat.

“We reverted to our previous behaviour for the majority of the previous weekend’s game. I was somewhat let down by that. After we made two blunders in a row and lost a goal once more, I believed Celtic was back on top once more. We’ve reverted to the same behaviour, which is unacceptable for us at the moment.

This season, Hibs won’t be the only team that Celtic abandons in frustration.
To be fair to the Easter Road guys, it’s a difficult ask to play two positions against Brendan Rodgers’ Celtic team, particularly this late in the season.

While Grey and his players are only getting started, the Bhoys are clicking and cohesive.

Yes, they now appear to be lacking in confidence and talent, but most Scottish teams will look that way when playing the defending champions.

It is Celtic’s responsibility to make sure they feel this way after games, no matter how difficult it is for others. The group is doing a great job, and long may it continue.