Scottish Premiership side Rangers confirmed the appointment of Mark Allen as director of football, according to Stephen Halliday of the SCOTSMAN. The 54-year-old Welshman will formally start work at Rangers on July 7 as he "ends a nine-year stint" as academy director of Man City. Recruiting a director of football was a "key part of the new football backroom structure the Rangers board set out to implement following the departure of Mark Warburton as manager in February." The club "missed out" on its initial target, former Scottish Championship side Falkirk Head of Development Ross Wilson, who turned down the approach "in order to remain in his current role at Southampton" (SCOTSMAN, 6/20). The BBC reported Allen started his career as a youth player with English side Swindon Town before "moving to San Diego to take up a football scholarship and business and accounting degree." After returning to the U.K., he "attained the position of managing director of MTV's broadcast division in London during a 13-year spell with the global music corporation" (BBC, 6/20).