Rangers have taken decisive action by dismissing both Patrick Stewart and Kevin Thelwell from their positions, a move strongly endorsed by club legend Ally McCoist who labelled their player recruitment as 'appalling'.
Fan Fury and Poor Performance Trigger Sackings
The duo had become the focus of intense anger from supporters following a disastrous start to the season. The club managed to win just one of their first eight league games and suffered a damaging streak of seven consecutive defeats in European competition. This poor run came after a summer recruitment drive that was widely criticised.
Although domestic results have improved since Danny Rohl replaced Russell Martin as manager last month, the American owners of the Ibrox club have now acted. Chairman Andrew Cavenagh and vice-chairman Parag Marathe are leading the search for new replacements who align with their vision for the club's future.
McCoist's Blunt Assessment of Transfer Failures
Rangers icon Ally McCoist stated that the departures were long overdue. 'The departures of Patrick Stewart and Kevin Thelwell are not a shock, not a surprise,' the former striker and manager said. 'I've been constant with this all along, the recruitment has been appalling, really. It has been appalling. Not poor, not bad. Appalling.'
McCoist provided a detailed and damning critique of the specific transfer failures, arguing that not a single new signing was an improvement on the players who had left. He highlighted several key areas:
- Central Defence: New signings were not as good as the solid partnership of Conor Goldson and Leon Balogun, who played in a European final.
- Left-Back: None of the new players in this position were better than Ridvan Yilmaz or Jefte.
- Striker: New forward Youssef Chermiti was deemed unlikely to score as many goals as Cyriel Dessers or Hamza Igamane.
He did concede that Djeidi Gassama had played well and was the best of the new signings, but even he was not considered an upgrade on Vaclav Cerny. McCoist concluded that replacing players with inferior talent is a 'recipe for failure'.
A Ruthless New Era Under American Ownership
McCoist believes this decisive action proves that the club's owners, Cavenagh and 49ers Enterprises, are prepared to be ruthless in their pursuit of returning Rangers to their rightful level.
'I think the owners have maybe got a little bit of a shock at the reaction from the fans, media, and everybody,' McCoist told TalkSPORT Bet. 'They've shown they'll be ruthless and they won't stop in pursuit of excellence.' He also suggested that while fan protest may not have been the sole reason, the club's owners were right to listen to the supporters, and that there was simply too much 'water under the bridge' for Stewart and Thelwell to survive.
