Mark Allen has quit his role as Director of Football at Ibrox.
The former Manchester City youth coach was heavily involved in recruiting Steven Gerrard and has had a high profile role at the club over the last 15 months.
With the club’s finances in dire straights and less than a fortnight away from getting hit with the Sports Direct bill the loss of their star spotter and star maker is a crushing blow.
Friday evening is generally the best time to bury bad news with the announcement on the club website at 8pm tonight.
While the statement claims that he is moving for family reasons there is no mention of his family in the comments from Allen to explain his sudden departure.
The club stated:
HAVING been instrumental in successfully revamping the football department, Rangers Football Club can announce that Director of Football Mark Allen has informed them he is to leave the club.
Mark has decided that now is the right time for him to move on for family reasons and in order to explore other options, and leaves with the clubs best wishes.
Rangers fully respects Mark’s decision and wishes to place on record its thanks to Mark for his hard work and diligence since joining the Club in the summer of 2017. In that short time he has helped move Rangers into a significantly stronger and more challenging position.
During his tenure, Mark has made a hugely positive impact in bringing in a higher quality of first-team player and he has led the renovation and improvement of the Hummel Training Centre, making it fit for a club the size of Rangers.
Managing Director Stewart Robertson commented: “On behalf of the Board, I would like to thank Mark for his work in recent seasons. We are disappointed to lose him but we appreciate the impact he made during his time in Scotland and he leaves Rangers in a better place than when he first arrived. Losing a man of his calibre is a blow but the practices he put in place at the club will stand us in good stead for the future. We wish Mark well in his future career.”
Mark Allen said: “It has been a privilege to work for Rangers, one of the biggest clubs in football with such a phenomenal fan base, and I’ve loved every minute. Bringing Steven Gerrard to the club will always be a special point in my career and I would like to thank him, his excellent staff, the players and all the staff at Rangers for their support throughout my tenure. My greatest wish is for Rangers to start winning trophies again and I wish them all the very best for the future”
Last week Allen was interviewed by TalkSPORT explaining how wonderful everything was at Ibrox, there has been no hint or suggestion that the star spotter/ dream maker was having family difficulties.
During the transfer window the Welshman failed spectacularly to get rid of players with just £250,000 raised from the sale of Daniel Candeias. Kyle Lafferty and Graham Dorrans were paid off but Eros Grezda, Eduardo Herrera and Wes Foderingham remain on the payroll.
