Rangers sporting director Kevin Thelwell has confirmed the appointment of Jonathan Hunter-Barrett as the club’s new academy director in an ambitious statement of intent.
The Ibrox outfit have been operating without a formal head of academy since Zeb Jacobs left the club to join Feyenoord in April 2024, but that will no longer be the case from the start of 2026.
Hunter-Barrett leaves Wolves after a 14-year-association with the Premier League club which has seen him progress from an academy scout to a foundation lead coach before eventually assuming the role of academy manager in 2022.
The 35-year-old is expected to work a brief notice period of just over a month with Wolves before taking the reins at Rangers in time for January 2026 when he’ll start to work closely with a number of members of staff at the football club including recently-appointed manager Danny Rohl.
Speaking to RangersTV on Saturday, Thelwell confirmed that Hunter-Barrett is to become the club’s new academy director. He added that Rangers are also searching for a new head of football operations.
David McCallum has been working as the interim head of academy since sporting director Thelwell joined the club in June.
Rangers have been reshaping their backroom team under the San Francisco 49ers since their well documented takeover over the summer. They are well in the process of trying to make the Light Blues the dominant team in Scotland once again and a huge part of that will rest on getting things right behind the scenes.
As part of that restructuring, Everton’s Nathan Fisher moved to Scotland as the new head scout earlier in the year. David MacGregor has been promoted to the role of men’s head kit manager, Jamie Ramsden has become the new head of performance and Jaymes Monte joined as data insights lead.
Rangers brace themselves for busy January window
Rangers have underperformed massively in the Scottish Premiership this season. However, Danny Rohl’s initial impact since arriving to replace Russell Martin has given fans some cause for optimism.
Kevin Thelwell told BBC Sport that the plan is to back Rohl in January on the recruitment front, revealing that it’s likely to be a busy time while adding that the former Sheffield Wednesday boss will be given the final say on any deals.
“We’ve made a good start, albeit we’ve not done as well as we would’ve liked in Europe so far. League form’s improved,” said Thelwell.
“I still feel very confident. There’s a clear difference in the way in which we’re playing at the moment. Number one, we all understand that we have to win football matches.”
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