First Rangers departure of summer 'close' days after Russell Martin confirmed his internal Ibrox assessment

Daily Record

9 hours ago

The Ibrox overhaul is already well underway after the 49ers took control of the Glasgow giants
New boss Russell Martin could see Issame Charai depart his coaching staff amid reports of an offer in Belgium.
It comes just days after Martin confirmed he would weigh up the backroom team as part of his internal Ibrox overhaul.
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The American revolution is well underway for Rangers following the mega-money US takeover - with the former Southampton boss keen to put his own stamp on the squad.
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Former Morocco Under-23 head coach Charai only arrived at Ibrox in January to work under Philippe Clement - and was the only member of the coaching team to remain from the Belgian's era to work under Barry Ferguson.
He still remains on the staff following Martin's arrival but reports in Belgium claim he is the frontrunner to take over at KVC Westerlo.
DH report that a change is "likely" for the Belgian Pro League side with boss Timmy Simons set to depart with Charai - who played in Belgium for Mechelen and St-Trond - the favourite to succeed the outgoing gaffer.
It is said he is the club's leading candidate - and while Simons has still yet to be officially shown the door an agreement is "close" for a replacement.
The report comes after Martin admitted he would examine the structure of the coaching set-up after bringing in Matt Gill as his assistant and physical performance coach Rhys Owen.
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He said: "Matt Gill's coming. He's been my assistant manager all the way through and he brings technical expertise as a coach.
"Brilliant coach who had to play a huge role in developing a lot of players at Norwich since he had the 21s. We played together very briefly and then I worked with him when he had the 21s.
"When I was on my way out as a player at Norwich and I realised then what an excellent coach he was and how much care he had for the players and how much they loved him.
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"Guys like Max Aarons, Todd Cantwell and the Murphy twins, some brilliant players under his tutelage. And we're very different personalities, so he's a bit more calm and introverted than I am, so it's good for me and it's a good balance.
"He's coming and then Rhys Owen's coming as well, who's actually on holiday in Portugal just now. He's been texting us relentlessly because it feels like he's missing out today.
"But he'll be up here next week and he's a physical performance coach first and foremost.
"Really aligned with the way we want to play so he understands how the players need to be prepared and he'll work with the sports science and physical department up here, medical department and be a really good link from them to us to get to know each other very quickly and to understand what the physical requirements will be.
"Also a really good technical coach as well so it's just those two at the moment and then we've got some brilliant people inside the building and we'll assess things over the next few weeks together and then see if we need to add and as and when we do and see in which areas."
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