Danny Rohl did not slip into the mode of using old cliches and tired phrases – such as the one about hard work beating talent when talent doesn’t work hard – as he outlined who he is and what he believes in.
But one of the other great buzzword salads of yesteryear came to mind as the German sat down to discuss why he is at Rangers and what he will bring to the club. A decade on from Mark Warburton’s assertion that Plan B was to do Plan A better, Rohl’s message will hearten the Rangers support.
It is a fan base that saw Russell Martin speak about his principles and stick to them. In the face of mounting evidence, Martin died on the hill that he made for himself and went down with a whimper clinging to a flawed philosophy. The actions of his players did not reflect his words.
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It will be for the former head coach to decipher if he was at fault and where the blame should lie for the failings that have set Rangers back considerably, both in football and financial terms. Now it is for the new head coach to try and fix the mess that he has inherited at Ibrox.
Rohl tells a story about a Champions League victory in Rome which was as comfortable as the four goals that Bayern Munich scored suggested. Inside the dressing room, members of the squad that Rohl was assistant coach of were left unhappy and unsatisfied because of aspects of the performance.
That mindset is one of the non-negotiables for the German, a demand that he will stick to regardless of the opposition or the occasion. When it comes to his tactical approach, he will not be as rigid. Rohl has brought more than one blueprint with him to Glasgow.
“I think my background is very easy,” Rohl said. “I come from a worker family, and I learned very early how you can move forward in your life — it's about hard working.
“I think over the last years, I've worked very hard to come to this point. I think this is a little bit also my mindset, and what I want to try to bring to the players.
“First, it's about hard working. Then, of course, with my background, the tactical understanding. It's very important for me to have not just one match Plan A. For me, it's always important to have Plan B and C, because I know in modern football, you cannot have just one way to play.
“If you want to win games, especially in this competition, all four competitions, I think this is very important. And I think the third part is, with all the experience from the different steps I made, when you look a little bit, Leipzig was from zero to a Champions League.
“You improved something, you learned a lot about structure, have a scouting direction, have a clear identity, I want to play. Now, two times I was in a relegation fight, one time with a Premier League club, one time with a Championship club.
“Then, of course, we come to Munich, and for me, it was very impressive to see players in every single training session. To see players, they were still hungry for every win, and I think this is very important. If you work with players, especially in such big clubs, you need this mindset.”
That time with Bayern – and his stints at RB Leipzig and the German national side – have prepared Rohl as a coach for life at Ibrox. His position at Sheffield Wednesday has prepared him for being the manager of Rangers.
The Owls were a club in crisis throughout Rohl’s tenure. Against all the odds, he guided them to safety and had a route towards potential prosperity, only to see his efforts undermined by an erratic owner and a series of issues that tested him as a man and a manager.
The bond with captain Barry Bannan was crucial to keeping Rohl heading in the right direction, as was his relationship with Josh Windass, and both men have remained in touch with their former boss. There were times when he didn’t sleep as he sought to keep the team and the club together. Those lessons will be put to use north of the border.
“I think we tried, and I’m honest with you guys,” Rohl said as he reflected on his time at Hillsborough, which came to an end in the summer. “When you look at the results in the first six games, we won one just game.
“But we started immediately to change also how we play football, and I must say this is a big, big part, to bring the players directly behind you with a clear structure of what you want to see, with honesty, and with an idea of which direction you want to go.
“I think that's important to the players. Our mindset should be a restart here. We cannot change the past, but we can start from today, and hopefully a long, long, long change into the future.
“If we go with this mindset, and we have this positive mindset, then we go ahead. When I took over in Sheffield, the group of players had, after 11 games, no win, just two draws, and we were the first team who should have been relegated.
“If you go there and you are not convinced, and you give them no belief, then it's tough. This is also important to understand. I give my players straight the belief, and I come a little bit back to my experience.
“Even in Munich, you had players with big names, but if they had not the self-confidence, they would not perform, and this is a crucial thing. Self-confidence comes not just about talking, it's about doing on the pitch, and this is what we want to try to do.”
The job that faces Rohl is stark. He would have known what he was walking in to when he arrived at Ibrox on Monday afternoon but the full scale of the challenge was laid bare days later as his debut in the dugout ended in a 3-0 defeat to SK Brann. With that, the first ambition – to progress in the Europa League – was all-but ended as Rangers suffered a third successive loss in the competition.
It was intriguing to watch Rohl on the touchline as he patrolled the technical area and cajoled his players. He is invested and he is all in, but it is not for show.
“Of course, emotion is important,” Rohl said. “But the key is for me is always to look back to a game, what was right, what was wrong, and find solutions. I'm not a coach who makes just emotional speeches, and then you can't give them solutions.
Danny Rohl goes to the away end to speak to the Rangers fans.
His name is chanted as he heads back across the pitch. pic.twitter.com/Mio6MwAvRc— Chris Jack (@Chris_Jack89) October 23, 2025
“For me, it's always different ways. I think you will see me on the touchline, I will always follow every action and try to those support on the pitch. Then I'm emotional.
“If you show belief and you are calm, it helps the team. I'm calm in a game because I know we prepared every day before for this game, and then it gives the players the belief and we go out.”
Rohl spoke before the defeat in Bergen about seeing the squad smiling again during the first two sessions of his tenure. Reasons to be cheerful have, of course, been in short supply this season and Martin left a squad that underperformed and underachieved after being expensively assembled.
Rohl’s appointment as Martin’s successor was not a universally approved one. He has made positive first impression, however, and fans absolved him of blame in Bergen. The comparison with Martin is as lazy as it is unfair on the highly-rated 36-year-old.
“I’m a guy who always sees the opportunity and not the risk,” Rohl said. “I see in this step as a big, big opportunity to be successful and to win titles. For me there was not one question mark to come here about these things.
“Yeah, I'm Danny Rohl, I'm not Russell Martin. I think to compare coaches is difficult. Hopefully you will soon see which direction we want to play football.
“For me, every coach has his own opinion. I have my clear identity about how I want to play.
“Maybe we're similar, we have a background both in Southampton and maybe in the Championship, maybe this is the reason why people see this. But if you compare the styles, you will find a lot of different things.”
On Sunday, he will find a warm welcome awaiting him at Ibrox. The day that he was unveiled as head coach gave Rohl an opportunity to get his feet under the desk and take in his new surroundings.
Now he will look to get off and running in the Premiership. The situation is bleak. The visit of Kilmarnock is one that must be marked with three points.
“No, I've never been here, it's my first time,” Rohl said when asked if he had been to a match at Ibrox. “When you prepare and you are looking forward to a new club, you look at the internet, you watch videos, you see the fans, how much energy is in the stadium.
“The good thing is we now have the opportunity to fill this stadium, and hopefully get the first home win. It's just part of our job if we want to win games.
“I think this is a crucial thing, that they turn around the atmosphere in the right direction, it will be amazing.”
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