Today, Rangers confirmed the appointment of Zeb Jacobs in the role of Academy Head of Coaching with the Belgian due to commence his post on the 1st of January.
This appointment has been heralded as a pivotal one for the academy with a lot of excitement and expectation on the potential impact ahead.
It was also revealed that departed first team coach, the highly respected Michael Beale played an integral role to identify Jacobs as the right man for the job and the appointment that followed.
A statement from the club included words attributed to Head of Academy Craig Mulholland:
“Ross (Wilson) and myself, with the assistance of Michael Beale, set out to identify a modern and innovative coach and coach educator who pushes boundaries, thinks differently and would be pivotal in helping us create Rangers players who can excel in the future game.”
“We spoke with several coaches across Europe before ultimately choosing Zeb as we believe his understanding of how young people learn and his creative teaching methodologies will allow us to develop coaches and curriculums.”
“This will result in exciting, creative, 1v1 dominant players forming a Rangers identity. This appointment is one of the next steps in an exciting evolution of our Academy.”
New Beginning
There is now a truly continental and progressive coaching system in place at Rangers, with Gio van Bronckhorst and Dave Vos with the first team, through to this fresh new appointment.
Zeb Jacobs appears to have a modern approach, in his methods and outlook so it will be interesting to see how this move develops and over time, hopefully several first team players can be produced.
As for Beale, it just adds further to his own reputation with most Rangers fans clearly holding the Londoner in high regard. He clearly cares about his work and is so enthusiastic about youth development given his extensi ve background in working with younger players. Thanks to his influence, Rangers will aim to reap the rewards to come from Jacobs, following on from his previous work at Royal Antwerp.