Rangers legend Barry Ferguson believes Michael Beale has the capacity to achieve targets without a sporting director alongside him. But he was quick to acknowledge the role Ross Wilson played in generating vital funds for the club.
Wilson vacated his role to join Nottingham Forest after three and a half years in the position, with Beale set to oversee extra duties until a successor is put in place. Beale himself indicated that he was confident that a summer recruitment plan was already in the pipeline as they look to cement a closer title challenge next season. The Light Blues currently trail Glasgow rivals Celtic by 12 points at the Scottish Premiership summit after last weekend's derby defeat.
Ferguson is pleased the deal that saw Wilson depart was done swiftly which allows the focus to remain on a strong end to the season heading into the transfer window. He said: "It will be interesting to see how quickly they replace him. Look he's come under for a fair bit of criticism in terms of recruitment. I thought in the summer it wasn't the best, I've got to be honest with you but then on the other hand he was part of the deals to bring the money in for Bassey, Aribo and Nathan Patterson so he's brought in a fair amount.
"He's obviously took the opportunity to go to Nottingham Forest and I said when it happened during the week that the most important thing for Rangers is that it didn't drag on. When the interest became known on Wednesday it was pretty much done in the space of hours and now Rangers can move on.
"As I said this summer is so important for Michael Beale and it was interesting to hear in his interview that the recruitment is already done. He's already identified who he wants and it's just getting these players over the line now."
Asked if he thought Beale would embrace taking on some of Wilson's responsibilities at Rangers, Ferguson continued on Go Radio: "I don't think he would have took the Rangers job and the way he speaks when you listen to him when he's doing his pressers, I think he's the man that makes the final decision. He's the one.
"It works both ways, the scouting department will bring players and Michael Beale will say this is who I want - 'A', 'B', 'C', 'D' and 'E', but I honestly do believe, with the way that you hear him talk, that Michael Beale decides who's coming through the door. I certainly think it was his signings in the January window. There's no doubt about that, Cantwell and Raskin.
"Listen, he might be able to work without a sporting director. He might enjoy doing both of them. The only thing that a sporting director does is he takes away a lot of the strain for the manager; he will go and negotiate with the club about transfer fees, about wages, dealing with agents and all that sort of stuff so the manager has just got to deal with who he wants and he has only got to speak to the player.
"I think they will use the next couple of months to see how it can work and then I think they will make a decision come the summer."
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