PIETER Huistra, the former Rangers and Netherlands midfielder, has endorsed the Ibrox club’s decision to restructure their football department and adopt a more continental model.
Huistra, who won five league titles in Scotland between 1990 and 1995, was back in Glasgow last week to watch Rangers take on St. Johnstone in a Ladbrokes Premiership match at Ibrox.
The Dutchman has worked extensively in both Europe and Asia as a coach, assistant manager, manager and technical director since retiring from playing in 2001.
The 50-year-old has just completed a stint as a combined head coach and technical director with newly-formed Japanese club Iwaki FC.
Rangers directors were concerned when Frank McParland, their head of recruitment, departed at the same time as Mark Warburton, their manager, last month.
Huistra believes that bringing in a director of football to work in tandem with the new manager will take the Glasgow club in line with the major clubs in Europe and lay a solid foundation for them to build on.
“I believe every good club needs a philosophy,” he said. “How do we play? How do we train? You have to build a culture into your club. A culture is something that Rangers always had, especially when I was there.
“I think appointing a director of football is the right way for Rangers to go now. English football and Scottish football has been in the hands of managers for far too long. They get to decide everything.
“But for the last 20 or 30 years in Europe they have split the position. They have a head coach and what we call a technical director. The technical director is the one who safeguards the long term, the head coach is the one who is responsible for the short term.
“Together, they have to follow the philosophy of the club. Together, they have to install a culture and protect the culture at the club. It is also important that both men get on okay and agree about how to do things.
“They must have the same mind and go in the same direction. It is up to the board to make sure that these things are clear.”
Huistra added: “In the Netherlands, in Germany, in Spain, everywhere apart from in Scotland really, every club now has this set-up.
“Ajax is probably one of the best examples of this concept in the whole of Europe. They are very strong followers of Johan Cruyff’s theory of how to play football. As long as I have been alive, it has always been the same.
“They have had the same philosophy, the same way of playing. It is very clean, very transparent, it is very easy. The youth players know what to do when they get into the first team. It helps them break into the first team. It is definitely what Rangers should be doing.”
Meanwhile, Huistra has predicted that appointing little-known Portuguese coach Pedro Caixinha as their manager could also help Rangers to keep pace with other advances in European football.
The eight-times capped Netherlands internationalist admitted he had never heard of the former Uniao Leiria, Nacional and Santos Laguna manager, who is currently in charge at Al-Gharafa in Qatar, before he was linked with a move to Ibrox last week.
However, he believes that Scottish football has been left behind other countries on the continent in recent years and is hopeful Caixinha, if he takes up a position, will be aware of modern trends in the beautiful game.
"Football is changing," he said. "You must have players who are tactically very aware now. There is a lot happening in the game in Spain, in Portugal, in Germany especially, in Holland, in football today.
"There is a lot of tactical progress being made in these countries which is interesting to see. That is something that I don’t see in Scotland or England either. Now, with more foreign coaches coming in, you can see it changing down in England.
"There is a big thing going on, especially in Germany and Spain. It is something that other countries in the rest of Europe have to have a look at and adapt to that. The players are more tactically aware than in the past."
Huistra added: "Scottish football was always renowned for its physical strength, for its direct play, for its heart.
"But now every country in Europe, in the big leagues especially, has those qualities. If you don’t have them as a player you aren’t selected.
"Then the tactical and mental factors come in. You need very strong tactical discipline. In order to achieve tactical discipline the coach needs a good tactical plan. If the coach has no plan how can he expect a player to be disciplined tactically? It is not possible.
“The manager can't just say: ‘We’ll play 4-4-2 and go for it at full speed for 90 minutes’. He needs to work on the training pitch and show 11 players together how to put the pressure on for 90 minutes. Otherwise it is difficult to do it in the game.
"I hope for Rangers that Caixinha is like that. He is not a big name. I have never heard of him. But I am sure the club has done its homework. He comes from Portugal and is probably a forward-thinking coach. I hope for the club that he is tactically aware because it is very important in today’s game."
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