Ex-Rangers backroom staffer joins Scottish Premiership rivals in key new role

Dundee have appointed four new members of staff to the club ahead of the 2024/25 season and former Rangers figure Billy Kirkwood is among those to make the switch. The Dark Blues announced the quartet of appointments in a social media post, along with the departure of Robert Kielty and Kevin Milne.

Kirkwood, who spent a decade of his playing career at Dundee United from 1976 to 1986 has been named the new head of recruitment at Dens Park. He also represented the Dee as a player and went on to serve as reserve coach between 1988 and 1991, before returning as the club’s assistant manager in 2005.

Among other clubs during his post-playing career, Kirkwood spent time at Rangers across a number of roles, including scout and head of loans.

“Billy has a wealth of experience in the game as a player, coach and scout,” Dundee wrote in their announcement post. Along with Kirkwood, Graeme Henderson joins as head of performance following his time at Falkirk FC. Scott Teister has been announced as the new strength and conditioning coach and David Smith will take on the role as physiotherapist within the medical team, joining Dundee from Ipswich Town following their promotion to the Premier League.

Dundee enjoyed a strong returning season to the Scottish Premiership following their promotion last year. The Dark Blues finished sixth, in the top half of the table, after banking 42 points for the 2023/24 campaign. They scored 49 goals for the season, bettering that of Kilmarnock, St Mirren and Aberdeen.

Former Rangers loans manager Kirkwood left Ibrox as a result of a ‘major shake-up’ at the club. and he came under some criticism before his exit. Former Gers star Bob Malcolm spoke out about criticism the former had received after being blamed for the lack of impact summer signings had made.

“I read some things criticising Billy Kirkwood and John Brown,” Malcolm said. “It was blaming them for the recruitment. These are guys who have been at Rangers for years It makes me sick. It is nothing to do with them.

“They get asked to go and watch a game and a player and come back with a report. But that comes from the manager or the director of football. That is not on the scouts who go and watch the matches.

“I know that the guys who have come in have not shown it enough yet. I know that Beale wanted to go down a different route with more analysis-style scouting or whatever.

“But Bomber know what it takes to pull that jersey on. You need guys like that to go and watch these games. They need to see if these guys have got something about them, if they can handle what they will encounter here. That is a big thing. Everybody at Rangers is a great player. The important thing is how they deal with the fans.”