Rangers boss Russell Martin plotting Sheffield Wednesday raid | OneFootball

The former Southampton head coach is looking to poach some staff from Danny Rohl's setup.

New Rangers boss Russell Martin is reportedly looking to add one of Sheffield Wednesday's coaches to his backroom staff.

Southampton's ex-head honcho is using all of his knowledge of his old league to construct a team to challenge the reigning Scottish Premiership champions Celtic next season.

A fair few Championship players, including Leicester City centre-back Conor Coady and Saints midfielder Flynn Downes, have been linked with moving to Ibrox to link up with Martin, who has reportedly been given a "significant chunk" of the £20 million that has been injected into the club by the Glaswegian side's new owners, 49ers Enterprises.

As well as the first-team, Martin is looking to fill out the talent surrounding him. The coaching staff that Rangers' previous interim manager Barry Ferguson had have left the club, leaving the Scottish boss with some vacancies to fill.

Russell Martin eyeing Sheffield Wednesday coaching raid

One of the jobs that Rangers are looking to address is their goalkeeper coach, which was previously held by club legend Alan McGregor. According to The Star, Wednesday's Sal Bibbo is a target that they are looking at.

Bibbo joined manager Danny Rohl's collection of coaches in November 2023, shortly after the young German got the job. He has previously worked for Premier League sides Arsenal and Brighton & Hove Albion.

This interest in one of Wednesday's backroom staff comes amid a very uncertain overall coaching situation at Hillsborough. In April, the manager informed the club's senior leadership of his desire to leave this summer following the first round of missed payments to his players.

This happened for a second time at the end of May, and a number of players are still yet to receive their wages for that month. If the waiting players still haven't been paid come next Monday, when they are supposed to be wired the money that they are owed for June, they can hand in their 15-day notices to the Owls and leave the club for nothing.

The remaining coaches and staff at the club were also caught up in the May debacle, but, still way after it was due, that situation has been resolved by chairman Dejphon Chansiri.

Sheffield Wednesday coach must be tempted by potential Rangers switch

Rangers and Wednesday are on two very different paths at the moment. With an ownership group that has just won the Championship with Leeds United, the Gers are set to build their way back to challenging their city rivals for the Scottish Premiership title.

Meanwhile, Wednesday are on the brink of losing their manager, potentially a lot of their players, and now a key cog in their coaching staff.

For Bibbo, it would surely make much more sense to be up at Ibrox where, on a very basic level, you know that you're going to get paid, rather than sticking around at Hillsborough while the place decays.