Rangers reveal thinking behind Derek McInnes appointment as they opt for Klopp over Guardiola

Ibrox CEO Jim Gillespie revealed that the recruitment team felt McInnes was the Klopp-style manager they needed to take the team to the next level.

Speaking at a shareholders' meeting in a Glasgow city centre hotel, Gillespie was asked by one of the estimated 650 shareholders present to provide more detail explaining the decision to hire McInnes from Hearts beyond his history as a Rangers fan and former player.

There have already been rumblings about McInnes’ suitability following a difficult start to the season. The Ibrox side have two losses and one draw from their first three games under the new manager. A home defeat to Hibs on Sunday was undesirable for many reasons, including the scheduling of a shareholders’ meeting the following morning.

Although there was clear concern about the club’s direction of travel following such an underwhelming start, the gathering was far from fractious. Chairman Andrew Cavenagh received sustained applause after one shareholder paid tribute to his commitment and for agreeing to hold the meeting at all. Rangers are now a private company and under no obligation to do so.

Cavenagh shared the stage with fellow consortium member Paraag Marathe, as well as Gillespie and executive director Fraser Thornton. Two parts of the proceedings invited questions from the floor. One dealt with the subject of recruitment, specifically McInnes’ appointment in June.

“It’s very simple,” answered Gillespie. “There are two different types of managers – you get a Klopp-type manager and you get a Guardiola-type manager. I think in terms of Rangers’ game model and what fans’ expectations are we wanted a Klopp-type manager who was on the front foot and played aggressive football and created chances and score goals.

“Derek McInnes is a Klopp-style manager. Underneath that is the structure that he wants to play, the conversations about how successful he has been - he is just off the back of a great season at Hearts, and the character the Hearts team showed and some of the characteristics he has.

“When the managerial appointment came about, there was only one name that ticked all the boxes for us to go and get and it was Derek,” he added. “We have strong beliefs – I know we have had difficult results – that Derek will bring success to the club.”

Gillespie revealed that discussions about a new manager took place in April, when Danny Rohl was still in charge and before the disastrous post-split run that saw the Ibrox team go from favourites to lift the Scottish title to finishing third.

“It wasn’t just (a case of) ‘get Derek McInnes’,” he said. “In April, when we were away in Spain (for a warm-weather camp), we were talking about managers.

“If you’re playing really well, someone will come in and take them and if you’re doing really badly, you have to make a change. You always have to have the contingency (in place). Derek McInnes was high on the list for a long time. And when the opportunity came up through conversations with Danny to move on, it was a conversation we revisited.

“You always like to see the whites of people’s eyes because that tells you if they have the passion and we had lots of conversations around that. Although it took a week in a sense, it could have taken a day. But we wanted to make sure. And Derek, to be fair, had a lot of questions he wanted to have answered as well.”