Rangers chief says Kevin Thelwell and Patrick Stewart will stay: ‘They didn’t screw up’

American chairman Cavenagh defended the pair, stressing that he and vice-chairman Paraag Marathe had been equally involved in the headhunting process — both before and after Martin.

“The misconception that’s out there about the names you mentioned is that somehow these guys screwed it up,” said Cavenagh. “I was involved in every single telephone call, every single meeting, every minute with both of those candidates [Gerrard and Muscat]. And I don’t believe that they didn’t come because they didn’t like Patrick or they didn’t want a sporting director. They are complicated things and eventually it didn’t work, largely due to timing on their part, a little bit on our part in the case of Kevin [who wanted to see out the season with Shanghai Port in China].

“But while that was going on we had obviously re-engaged behind the scenes with Danny. Our focus going forward is not on who didn’t come but on who did come. We are incredibly happy that Danny Röhl is the head coach at Rangers Football Club.

“They [Thelwell and Stewart] do retain my full backing. Everybody makes mistakes and I know we have made some missteps along the way. We own it. If you make a mistake you need to try and improve and we’re committed to improving, that goes for everybody at this football club. It’s Patrick, it’s Kevin, it’s myself, it’s Paraag. Going forward we’re all accountable.”

Cavenagh said that Rangers had five credible candidates to become head coach. Some Rangers fans will have to be convinced by Röhl, the 36-year-old German whose only previous head coach role was at Sheffield Wednesday. Taking another young Championship-level coach has echoes of Martin although the club are eager to stress the differences. “Everybody is going to talk about the comparisons between Danny and Russell…they both have beards and dark hair, they are both a similar age,” said Thelwell. “[But] our mandate hasn’t changed. We want a coach that dominates football games, in possession and out of possession and then those bits in between. We want to press and counter press, we want possession but not possession for possession’s sake.

“That’s not changed from the conference when I sat here and we introduced Russell. We didn’t get there with Russell. Danny is a very different coach when you look at his background and experience, his upbringing. There are some clear differences.”

Cavenagh said the £20million his American consortium invested in the summer would be followed by more cash in the January window after discussions with Thelwell and Röhl about what the squad required.

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