CRAIG MULHOLLAND believes the appointment of a Director of Football will be another step towards a brighter future for Rangers.

The Light Blues board are keen to finalise their off-field structure by bringing in a figure to oversee their operations at Ibrox and Auchenhowie.

The successful candidate will work closely with manager Pedro Caixinha and be a link between the football department and the boardroom.

And Head of Academy Mullholland is confident the Gers are on the right track at all levels after a rollercoaster campaign on their return to the Premiership.

He told SportTimes: “We have formed a technical board so there is a club philosophy that runs from the top to the bottom and the type of managers that will be appointed fit within that philosophy.

“They will all be slightly different. That is normal and they should be.

“What we do as an Academy is take the best bits from Mark Warburton, from Pedro and we implement that best practice in the Academy.

“The Under-20 team must replicate as closely as possible the first team, but what we can’t do is have the situation where every time the manager changes the philosophy within the Academy changes. That would be foolish.

“When the Director of Football is appointed, the Academy will report directly to him and there will be a consistency of approach over many years.

“That consistency, if you look at the research from all the top clubs, is key when it comes to developing young footballers.

“It is new for Rangers but if you look at the clubs that are successful in player trading and youth development, they all have a director of football in place. It is someone who pulls everything together.

“If you look at the number of staff, number of players, the external dealings in terms of players, dealing with the board, making sure the message is right, there is a requirement for someone to pull all of that together.

“From our point of view, we are looking forward to working with the Director of Football because it will help us in all those areas and further strengthen the link between the Academy and the first team.”