Every word Danny Rohl said on Stewart and Thelwell Rangers exits

Read more:

• Rangers begin feasibility study on Ibrox expansion and matchday experience upgrades
• Why Cavenagh sacked Stewart and Thelwell: Fan feeling, investor pressure, transfers

The big news from this week that the club have sacked sporting director Kevin Thelwell and CEO Patrick Stewart. Just to get your reaction to that news and to ask if you were consulted at all during the process of the dismissals?

Yeah, I think at first it was always not nice when some people around you get sacked. I had a good relationship with Kevin, we were always in a daily business, we spoke to each other with Patrick as well. They were also involved in the process when I arrived here, putting up something. Then I got a call from Andrew, who gave me this message. Then we had a meeting, a dinner together, one day later, spoke about the situation, the process, and now it's about looking forward to the future. This is football, what sometimes happens. For me it's now about focus to the next games and the next processes.

Of course, the January transfer window is just over five weeks away. How will this affect transfer business in any way? Will you have more control? Will you be asked to lead recruitment?

We had this communication before, yesterday we had the next meeting, to give some updates now with the other people. I think this is also important. I think I'm close to Andrew, we are in contact every day, we speak to each other. But there are also good people around who support me, I think this is crucial. I cannot do this alone or can't make decisions alone. I think it's important to understand that we have a good structure in the club. Of course it has changed now, but we have an interim CEO, Fraser, who is very experienced. He will help me, we have some guys from the board, from the 49ers around me, and we also have a recruitment department. We all have to go together in one direction. We want to work on this; we know we have to do something, and let's see what we can do. 

Danny, when you came in and took over, presumably you assessed the squad and who had been recruited as well. Do you feel, perhaps directly or indirectly, that your assessment of that might have had some influence on the decisions made? 

I think this is... I'm the wrong person to ask this. I think it's my job to look over. I think it was over the conversation in the last weeks. I give my information to the board, to the club, what I think, how I see the situation, how I see the squad at the moment, which parts we have to improve. I think there's no secret we know that we have to improve all of our players here. I think this is crucial to understand. We have some very exciting players, and we know we want to bring them back to the highest level. This is all a big job, and it's my job to do this with my coaching team. Then, of course, we probably also have to look in the future, to the next window, what we can bring, what we can edit. But it's still a very real process. You look at the position you need, you watch videos, you get the information, you try to get all the things, and then you sit together with the board, with the club, and then you try to make the best decision for the club. 

What do you need in your role from a sporting director in particular, given the impact that their decisions also have on you?

I think if you have a sporting director, then you have always a link to the board. I think this is a bit to understand the role, more like I understand this role from Germany as well. Now, the link is a little bit closer, because you go straight to some situations with Andrew, but I think he was very clear with everything during the week, what he expects, what he demands. We are in a good communication process, and this is what we have to do. I have to watch the videos from the recruitment, think about this, but also to prepare my team for the next games. These are 12 important games [until January], and just five weeks, every three days, preparing meetings, all these things. These are things you have to do. We know transfer windows are always busy, but I think I have good people around me, they will support me and they will help me. 

Danny, just given what you are saying, you will be a little bit closer to Andrew, the sporting director. Does that mean you think you will have a bigger influence when it comes to January's transfers? 

I think in general, and I think the club was very clear when I arrived, it is always a decision together. Of course, you have to give an honest opinion about players, then there is the financial part, and then you look at other parts as well. In the best case, you bring all the information to one table, and then in the end you make a decision together, and you go in the direction that makes the most sense. For me, it makes sense to take players where you are really convinced they can help you, but then it is also a part of the club to make decisions. It is about communication, process, again, look to each other, and what we can do. At the moment, I think Andrew was also before close, we spoke to each other, we had a conversation, and now it is a little bit different or a new situation, but I can just repeat this again, that people still around me, they have supported me. 

Just going back to the actual sackings of Patrick and Kevin, how surprising was it for you to hear that news, given that they were the pair of people who hired you just a month or two ago? 

I think I am just 36 years old, but the last 15 years I was involved in a lot of processes. I can tell you it was always not nice, I was two times assistant coach and the head coach was sacked. You are always with them, this is what it is, you are the part of the team. I can just say, Kevin and Patrick was a good relationship, we had all those good conversations with each other, we understood each other. But it is football, football is never about the past, it is always about the future, and this is what we have to also understand, we have to move forward, and we have to take the situation as it is. 

Danny, Andrew spoke about the need to bring in players in January, but is it possible that some players will have to leave in January? And if so, might some of those be the guys that were signed in the summer, that perhaps haven't performed the way the club was looking for them? 

I think it is, at first the January window is always special, I think it is always important to understand, it is not a summer, you have four weeks and everyone looks for impact for the second half of the season, I think this is a goal, but of course the past is, if you bring players in, then you have to look that you have not signed positions too many players, and you have to look what you can do as well. And I think these are all the things, even if you want to bring players in, but you have the feeling that you have too many players in this position, and you can't bring them out, you have to make a decision on what to do, and I think this is what we have to work on. My first job, I can say this as well again, I want to bring and I want to increase the potential of some players.

Is this run of games a chance for players to change your opinions on them?

Every game is an opportunity for players. I had some conversations during the week with some players who didn't get the opportunity. I think that is also important, when I look at the schedule with Thursday, Sunday, next week again, and again. So game by game, there are opportunities. I think now we can do quite a lot to rotate in some positions you have to, and that means there are opportunities there, and it is up to the players to use those opportunities. You cannot just ask for opportunities and never use them. I think that is also important to understand, but after the training today I am very positive, the players are very focused on this. The players do not expect to play as a starter from home, but I think a good example was on the weekend, our players from the bench helped us to win the game, and it is also important that we see us always as a group and not just as a single person. 

What do you expect from the match against Braga, you are in the last position of this Europa League, what do you expect? 

At first, Braga took a lot of points, more than us! I think they are well organised, they are very aggressive in how they play football against the ball, they have solutions with the ball, I think they will also come with confidence in this competition. But for us as well, it’s the next challenge. We know we need points in this competition as well, this is always our goal, to go in such a game. Sometimes I miss training time on the pitch to make more steps forward. But it is what it is and the good thing is in games, you get straight feedback on which direction we are going. I want to see tomorrow a next step forward compared to the last two European games. I think when you see yesterday, the games, today and tomorrow, on this level, every mistake could be a big mistake. So I think it’s important to play without mistakes, to play on the front foot, bring the crowd behind you, try something instead of being passive and just waiting, that's what I want to see from my team tomorrow. And then let's see, we have to deliver a proper fight, and try to get points. 

Will Youssef Chermiti be involved?

At first I'm happy that he is back on the training pitch, I think the last couple of days he was a little bit injured, but this is a good part, it gives me a new opportunity. I must say today he was really lively in the training, maybe it was his best training since I arrived here, it gives me also a good feeling about him, and for him it's a special game against a Portuguese team.

Can you be precise about the participation of Chermiti in your team, and if you consider Braga one of the favourites to go through this Europa League?

Yes, I think if you take so many points after four games, then of course you have a chance to come in the next round, and I think Youssef brings skills in the game, he can bring skills in the game. I think I spoke about this at the beginning of the press conference. I think it's important for players to develop and improve; we can do that to the best level, and Youssef is also a high demand among himself. I demanded a lot from him yesterday, a good conversation with him, and if the reaction was like this today, that he made a fantastic training, then we are on a good way, but football is about consistency, and not about just one training session, it's about doing it again and again, in the highest level, and this is what we have to do as an individual player, but also as a group, I think this is at the moment the biggest part of our development, it starts in training, training on the highest level, playing on the highest level, and this every day, and if you do this, then you may go forward. 

Danny, before you arrived here, most people had written off your chances in the league, do you just sense now the way the league is, that there might be an opportunity for you to go and challenge, if you get it right, in the next few weeks, and also in January? 

I think when I arrived, it was 15 points behind first position. It goes step by step but if you can reduce it, with one game in hand, to six points, then that’s not big with so many games to go. But consistently, we must take points. I know, even two days back [against Livi], we know we want to play better football but in the end, three points helps us to make the next step in the league.

Do you think the Ibrox crowd will be unified after events of this week?

I think, in the last three to four weeks, if we play on front foot, the supporters were straight there and this is what I want to see. I know especially in Europe, there are also opponents and some good players, so this is not always possible. But this is what we have to try to do more, to be on front foot, to try something, to go with confidence there. And I'm 100 percent convinced, that the supporters will be straight there, and they feel it, they want to trust, they want to feel, that something happens on the pitch, in our direction, instead of to be passive, and waiting for something. This is our responsibility tomorrow to bring the stadium on fire. 

How is the squad?

Yeah, Derek [Cornelius] had the surgery in the morning today and that means he will for sure be out longer. John [Souttar] is still out. Mikey goes in the right direction, but the muscle injury takes a little bit more time, I think, We’ve now put Dujon [Sterling] on the UEFA list, but still, for him, after the first game on Monday, this is a process, if you are out six month it's not easy to be ready, straight after a week, but it was a decision, for the next European games to cover this position, and hopefully in the next games, yeah, I think the squad should be then. Bailey [Rice], of course, is out with the surgery, Joe [Rothwell] has a little bit of problems on the knee, but hopefully he is okay, yeah, should be a similar squad.

How long will Derek be out for? 

Minimum, the end of January, may be longer.