Sporting director Ross Wilson helped Rangers get back on the road to glory.
He has put the finishing touches to a squad that has motored towards a recent Premiership crown, last season’s Scottish Cup and faced the heartbreak of a penalty shootout defeat in the Europa League Final. Wilson is now the man at the heart of Rangers’ transfer activity as they gear up for another big summer that they hope will lead Giovanni van Bronckhors t side to the money-spinning Champions League and even more silverware.
It has been some journey for Wilson since he made his football dream a reality. The determined 21-year-old refused to get out of a Falkirk employee’s car until the Bairns gave him an opportunity. Wilson got his chance in a player-liaison role and never looked back, stepping up the ranks before he moved on to Watford and then landed major roles at Huddersfield, Southampton and ultimately the top job at Rangers.
Former Falkirk assistant manager Brian Rice recalled: “John Hughes brought Ross in at Falkirk. We were looking for somebody to come in and be a player liaison officer. We were bringing in a lot of young players from England and needed somebody to look out for them and also to help us with work with agents and different things.
“Ross was only a kid at the time. He came along for an interview and Yogi really liked him but felt he was just too young. Ross ended up getting a lift home from George Craig, head of football operations at Falkirk, that day. Ross refused to get out of his car until Falkirk agreed to give him a trial in the job.
“He was relentless and the only way George got him out of the car was agreeing to give him a two-week trial, starting the next Monday. That’s a true story. Ross came in and fair play to him, he was brilliant for us.
“He did a great job assisting our loan players and helping both Yogi and myself, speaking and dealing with the agents. Ross was a bright lad, always going on courses looking to improve himself. He was always a good communicator and good at networking. Ross is also a good person and that’s important in football. Fair play to Ross, he’s made some career for himself moving down south and now being the sporting director at Rangers.” At the end of his stint with the Bairns, Wilson moved to Watford and it was there he returned the favour and gave Rice the chance to get back in the game.
The Alloa boss recalled: “Ross was football director at Watford and he got me down when Sean Dyche was the manager. I actually shared a flat with Ross because we were two guys away from our families. I went down to do a bit of scouting and was helping with the reserve team after I had left Hibs. We both had a passion for going to watch games and to look at players so it was good.
“We shared a flat but we were never in because we were always at games. It was a good time.”
Wilson went on to Huddersfield and then Southampton, where Virgil van Dijk was sold to Liverpool for a then world-record fee for
a defender. That work with Saints saw him headhunted by Rangers at the end of 2019 and Wilson helped Steven Gerrard put a title-winning squad together. The building has continued with van Bronckhorst at a time when there hasn’t been a lot of money to spend.
The transfer expert had to be inventive to seal deals for Ianis Hagi and Kemar Roofe then managed to pull off the ambitious signing of Aaron Ramsey on loan from Juventus for the second half of last season. He has also added real value to the Rangers squad with the bargain-basement additions of Calvin Bassey, John Lundstram, Scott Wright and Fashion
Sakala, while managing to sell Nathan Patterson for a club record fee to Everton. Rice added: “You look at the players that Rangers have brought in. Most have seen their values rocket. Look what they paid for Bassey and what he’s worth now. Ross always sees if there is a future value in a player and that’s something he has always done well.”
Wilson is at the heart of this summer’s transfer activity at Ibrox, with a deal for John Souttar already over the line and work continuing behind the scenes on other deals. He has also been putting contingency plans in place knowing that the vultures could be circling for the likes of Alfredo Morelos, Ryan Kent and Joe Aribo as they go into the final year of their Rangers contracts.
And Rice said: “Any job at the Old Firm is difficult because you are always under the spotlight. You will never please everybody at Rangers and Celtic. To win the league in the manner they won it and with some of the players Ross has brought in was a fantastic achievement.
“Then to get to a European final and lift the Scottish Cup last season was brilliant. Ross has been a major success at Rangers, there’s no doubt about that. The issue is that at Rangers and Celtic there’s no standing still and Ross will know he will have to continue and keep up the good work he has done so far.”
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