Senior Rangers scout John Park leaves Ibrox
John Park has left Rangers in the wake of Nils Koppen’s arrival as director of football recruitment, according to the Scottish Sun.
The paper reported via their website on 8 December that the senior scout is now already “seeking a new opportunity” after departing Ibrox.
Park, a former Celtic scout, arrived on the other side of Glasgow in July 2022 but both parties have reached an agreement for him to leave.
He had worked closely with former manager Michael Beale, with both having been brought in by Ross Wilson, on recruitment at the club, which has proven to be a major issue in recent months.
So despite James Bisgrove often referring to Park in interviews regarding Rangers’ football strategy he has departed in the wake of Philippe Clement replacing Beale and the Belgian’s influence in the appointment of Koppen.
Inevitable?
In light of the misplaced summer overhaul of the squad it is perhaps little surprise that the two men who appear to have been central to it are now both gone before Christmas.
Beale was sacked on 1 October after failing to get anything like the right tune out of his newly assembled squad, having taken on a leading role in recruitment.
And now Park is gone a little over two months later with Clement, despite having overseen a marked improvement in results, still struggling with the deficiencies that are evident among the playing staff.
The hope has to be that Koppen can improve matters as Clement has in order to overcome a summer window which was supposed to kickstart the Beale reign but has arguably set the club back further.
Millions were spent on the likes of Cyriel Dessers, Sam Lammers, Jose Cifuentes and Danilo, with nothing like the return on investment required so far.
That has put Rangers in the undesirable position of having spent more to get rid of another manager early in the season, and now needing to back his replacement in the market again.
It remains to be seen how much of a budget Clement will have in January but if he is given money to spend as hoped it is going to need to be used much more sensibly than the summer recruitment drive.
In other Rangers news, Tom English expects virtually no spending in the winter window with the club “desperate” to get rid of players.