Rangers now in ‘seismic’ period – Stewart

Rangers chief executive Patrick Stewart says the “seismic” changes the club have recently put in place lay “a really strong foundation for the future”.

In the past week alone, new owners, a new sporting director and a new head coach have all been ushered in.

It leaves Stewart confident that Andrew Cavenagh and the San Francisco 49ers’ consortium – along with Kevin Thelwell and Russell Martin at the head of football operations – can have a transformational effect on the Ibrox club.

“It clearly is incredibly significant,” Stewart said. “That’s three seismic changes: a change of ownership, followed by a sporting director coming in, followed by a head coach being announced.

“That’s an awful lot of activity for one club in one week. I think it does herald a really positive new chapter for the club. I think it is a seismic period for the club and sets a really strong foundation for the future.”

Stewart clearly anticipates progress and he’d like it quickly. What he does not expect is a largescale spending spree.

Sustainability is the watchword, with Martn only being promised “a decent amount” of the recent £20m investment from the new owners, according to his chief executive.

Stewart is also determined not to resort to old habits and expect shareholders or investors to bail the club out.

“Since I came in, we’ve been looking at a strategy in which Rangers can become successful on a sustained basis but also on a financially sustainable basis,” he said.

“We don’t want to be going back to shareholders, ideally, and asking them to put their hands in their pockets. So it’s up to me and the rest of the team to put in place a strategy that will make sure we’re financially self-sustainable.”

That includes player trading.

“A European revenue stream is extremely important to us and, if we can move up a league, to the Champions League, that’s an enhanced revenue stream, but that’s all about getting it right on the pitch,” Stewart said.

“We’re looking at all different avenues for generating greater revenue. Ideally, in a way, that means we’re not looking to ownership, going cap in hand season after season.

“It’s going to take us a while to get there, but we’re putting in place the building blocks. “

The most pressing question on a lot of lips around Ibrox is a familiar one: how quickly can the gap to four-in-a-row champions Celtic be closed?

While Stewart is bullish about the challenge of catching up with their neighbours across the city, he is keen to shift the emphasis elsewhere when it comes to the main expectation on their new head coach.

“It’s first and foremost about taking the current squad that we’ve got and making it better – then also adding to the squad over the summer,” the chief executive suggested. “It’s about competing again.

“I think we all accept that last season just past, we were way off. That’s not where we want to be, that’s not acceptable as a club. It’s about competing again on all fronts. That is the expectation.”

It is certainly what the Rangers supporters want, with Stewart acutely aware the board’s choice of former Southampton manager Martin has not gone down universally well with the Ibrox fanbase.

“I’m aware supporters have strong views on who the right person for the role is,” he said. “We’re not oblivious to the noise. Not at all.

“We’re confident though – because we conducted such a thorough process – that the supporters will get behind him, particularly when they see him in action.”

With pre-season training just a matter of weeks away, Stewart knows the club has to stop sacking managers after the short reigns of Giovanni van Bronckhorst, Michael Beale and Philippe Clement did not deliver what was required.

The challenge for Martin is not an easy one: deliver culture change and good results simultaneously.

If he can, he will be an integral part of the “strong future” his chief executive sees on Rangers’ horizon.