David Weir: The lack of a scouting network at Rangers is a massive problem

[pete 2,499]

David Weir: The lack of a scouting network at Rangers is a massive problem

Rangers manger Mark Warburton and his assistant Manager David Weir are finding player recruitment a problem

 

Rangers manger Mark Warburton and his assistant Manager David Weir are finding player recruitment a problem

 

Tuesday 7 July 2015

 

DAVID WEIR, the Rangers assistant manager, has admitted the club's lack of a scouting network is badly hampering Mark Warburton's attempts to rebuild the first-team squad at Ibrox.

 

Since the club's liquidation three summers ago, there has been next to nothing in the way of scouting, a problem that as of yet has not been rectified by Dave King.

 

Goalkeeper Wes Foderingham and defenders Danny Wilson and Rob Kiernan have arrived this summer but many more are required before the start of the new season.

 

Hibernian have a large squad already in place, but Rangers conservatively need six or seven more additions and soon, or they risk giving their Edinburgh opponents a head start in the forthcoming campaign.

 

But former club captain Weir admitted there has still been no progress on re-establishing a scouting set-up.

 

He said: "Scouting is a fundamental part of any football club and it is a big thing Rangers have lacked. The scouting structure hasn't been as thorough as it needs to be and my experience is that the best clubs have the best scouting structures.

 

"It is something that over a period of time the club needs to put in place. It is definitely one thing we are working on but there has been no changes as of yet.

"Is that having an impact on attempts to rebuild the squad? Yeah, it makes it harder obviously. If you have got people and a structure in place that helps. But that takes time. It's important that with players we make the right decisions and it's the same staffing wise."

 

The scale of the renovation work needed at Ibrox ahead of the club's Ladbrokes Championship promotion drive is not lost on Weir.

 

The club released 11 first-team players after their humiliating play-off final defeat to Motherwell while a handful of youngsters were also axed.

 

And the squad was hardly in a good place before this clutch of players was more on, and yet Weir insistedWarburton will not rush his recruitment.

 

"We are working on it," he said when asked about the club signing targets. "I think 16 or 17 players left at the end of last season so we have brought in some additions and quality additions at that. It is important that we get some quality in to help the group that is already here.

 

"We are working on it but nothing that is imminent. We have not found that (playing in the Championship is putting players off). We have brought players in from good levels and everybody we've spoken to and brought in have been really keen to come here.

 

"They see the infrastructure, the see the stadium, they see the training ground and Rangers have got a lot of things that people want."

 

Not news but should not be used as an excuse. Players are offered to clubs by their Agents every day especially at this time of the year..

[Gribz 790]

W & W were probably expecting at least some sort of system in place to have a look at but will be finding out the scouting system was non-existent with not even a post-it pad of names on the table, therefore they are starting it from scratch. Pretty sure Warburton had players in his own mind anyway so I don't see it being an issue for buying players this summer but going forward its something that has to be resolved and we should have a set up in pretty much all corners of the globe.

Edited July 7, 2015 by Gribz

[Ser Barristan Selmy 222]

This part is a bit alarming:

 

"It is something that over a period of time the club needs to put in place. It is definitely one thing we are working on but there has been no changes as of yet.

Hopefully we are looking at implementing a global scouting network, befitting of a club of our size. Understandably such infrastructure would take time to implement. King has been in charge for four months now though and has been trying to take control for much longer than that. Surely they could have at least had a few scouts lined up....