Rangers seeks ‘greater quality of refereeing’

Sporting director Kevin Thelwell says Rangers want “greater consistency, greater quality and standard of refereeing”.

Thelwell reiterated the club’s desire to have talks with the Scottish FA following the handling of Rangers’ Premier Sports Cup semi-final defeat by Celtic.

Celtic defender Auston Trusty was yellow-carded after appearing to catch Rangers goalkeeper Jack Butland’s head with a foot.

The SFA’s key match incident panel stated that there was a two to one vote that Trusty should have been sent off, but head of refereeing Willie Collum backed his match officials over the decision not to show a red card.

“We’ve been doing some analysis of our own over a much wider period and perhaps want to talk to them again about some of that detail for one reason and one reason only.

“We want greater consistency, we want a greater quality and standard of refereeing and we want the focus to be on the football and not on the decisions.

“It’s well known that we were disappointed with some of the consistencies of the refereeing on that day and we’ve had some strong conversations with the SFA about some of those inconsistencies and some of those decisions.

“Whilst we agree with some of the points that were made during the conversations, we still fundamentally disagree with some of the points that were made and in particular the Auston Trusty incident. It’s clear from our side that it’s a red card.

Thelwell said he is “very pleased” with head coach Danny Rohl’s initial impact after winning his opening three Scottish Premiership fixtures. The Ibrox side are yet to pick up a point in the Europa League, however, with two defeats on Rohl’s watch.

And the sporting director said Rangers “do expect to be fairly active” in the January transfer window with “Danny having the final say” on signings.

“I thought he’s done really, really well,” said Thelwell.

“We’ve made a good start, albeit we’ve not done as well as we would’ve liked in Europe so far. League form’s improved.

“I still feel very confident. There’s a clear difference in the way in which we’re playing at the moment. Number one, we all understand that we have to win football matches.”

Robbie Thelwell, son of Kevin, recently joined as head of recruitment, Jonathan Hunter-Barrett will start as academy director in early 2026 and Thelwell senior also commented on the appointment of Jaymes Monte, and other expected recruits.

“It’s probably our first ever appointment in this data space,” he said of Dundee native Monte.

“It’s going to provide us with a lot of insight and a lot of specialism in relation to data, not only from a recruitment perspective but also from analysis of opposition perspective, analysis of our own game and then also medical and sport science and coaching.

“We’re talking about making another appointment in a director of football operations role. That very much is focused on the way in which we operate on a day-to-day basis at the training facility. It’s about the way in which we administer the transfer windows and it’s about governance and process and strategy to make sure we’re as organised as we possibly can be and as efficient as we possibly can be.

“We’d like to add some additional [coaching] support, perhaps someone who knows the Scottish landscape much stronger than [Danny Rohl] does and much stronger than we do. And then perhaps some additional specialism. Let’s watch this space.”