Andy Halliday admits he would have liked to have seen Rangers bring in a "top level" coach to work alongside Derek McInnes and the rest of his staff.
The Ibrox club yesterday confirmed the appointment fans had been waiting for with McInnes announced on a three-year deal. In the building with him are Paul Sheerin and Alan Archibald, his coaches at Kilmarnock and Hearts, and Craig Clark who worked with him at Rugby Park.
Halliday recognises that those guys deserve the move to Ibrox as trusted members of the new manager's inner circle.
But he would have liked his old club to also bring in someone who has coached at the highest level.
Speaking on BBC's Scottish Football Podcast, he said: "I feel as if it's been years in the making. I think that whether it was 2015 when Mark Warburton left, whether it was 2018 when Pedro Caixinha left, I feel like Derek McInnes has been at the tip of the tongue of Rangers fans for a number of years now.
Read more
Rangers make key behind-the-scenes appointment as performance director confirmed Derek McInnes tipped to make move from his norm with approach to one Rangers star
"And it just felt like the right time for it to happen today. He ran so close to winning Hearts the title last year considering they finished seventh the season prior. And I feel as if he's done a fantastic job there. A brilliant job at Kilmarnock to get them from the championship up to the top flight, getting them into the top six in the first season, what he done at Aberdeen for years.
"So I think for me, I think he ticks so many boxes and I think there's a lot more boxes to tick at Rangers and Celtic than there is at most clubs around world football. I think we have two really, really unique football clubs in this country and I've said it a number of times that I think you have to be more than just a good coach or a very good coach to be a manager of Rangers or Celtic. Such as being able to handle the egos, the pressure, the fans, the expectation.
"And for me, I think Derek McInnes ticks near enough every box that Rangers are looking for. So I think the fact that they've made a profit in replacing Derek McInnes with Danny Röhl I think is no bad thing. I'll take that all day long.
"But my only slight concern I would say is I would have liked Derek McInnes at Rangers to bring in one top, top-level coach with a lot of experience. And that's taking nothing away from Alan Archibald and Paul Sheerin. I think they deserve to make the jump with Derek McInnes because, like I said, the success that he's had recently, they've been a part of that, so they deserve it as well.
"But I would have liked to have seen one extra come in with them with known experience at top-level football just to try and help him and his group moving forward. You never know, that might still come obviously, but at the forefront of it, I'm absolutely delighted. And the transfer window's now open as well and I think they'll need to get to work pretty quickly because I do think the squad needs a lot of work."
