The January transfer window is a notoriously frenetic month for many people involved in football, particularly former Rangers youngster Kirk Willoughby.

He may not have enjoyed a sustained playing career at Ibrox but his eye for talent has enabled him to forge a successful pathway in the game as a scout.

Willoughby was brought up understanding the club's rich heritage from an early age thanks to his late father Alex and uncle Jim Forrest, who both starred for the Light Blues in the 1960s.

Despite being released in the summer of 2004, Willoughby has made a name for himself as a talent spotter and is currently spying talent for English League One outfit Sheffield Wednesday following spells at Bristol City and West Ham United.

He told the Rangers Review, it’s a role he adores.

“I love it,” he beamed. “I spent seven years at Bristol City which was amazing. I worked with big Mervyn Day who is now working with Rangers, Jamie McAllister was the assistant manager and Lee Johnson was the manager. We had a good nucleus down there.

“Look at the signings we made, Marlon Pack we bought him for a few hundred grand and sold him for a couple of million. Aden Flint was a few hundred grand and sold for £7 million. Adam Webster was bought for £2.6 million and sold for £25 million. Jonathan Kodjia was bought for £3 million and sold for £16 million. We were a successful group and I only left there at the tail end of Covid when I was made redundant.

“They were going from nine scouts down to three and you had to be based in England. From there I ended up going to West Ham for a bit where I worked in the academy with Delroy Ebanks which was brilliant. The club let him down and let me down a wee bit.

“Then I got an opportunity to go to Sheffield Wednesday with Davie Downs and Dean Hughes and it’s been really good. It’s all first-team stuff so I’m loving it. It gets you out to games and you’re seeing different levels.

“If there’s a transfer window coming up you’ll be tasked with putting your concentration into left backs, right backs, strikers or whatever position it may be. We’re not going to sign has-beens so we’re looking for anything under the age of 26.

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“It’s not about what Kirk Willoughby likes in a footballer. When I worked for Lee Johnson, what I would’ve signed in a defender and what Lee would’ve signed in a defender were two different things. My job’s not to go and find a player I think is good, my job’s to go and find a player that fits the team.

“You’re not scouting for yourself, you’re scouting to fit the bill of the system that’s being played and the type of player the manager wants. I like a head-it and kick-it defender sometimes as a centre half but a Ryan Porteous isn’t going to fit in an Eddie Howe team is he?

“Eddie will likely rather have a guy who will bring the ball down and passes it. Lee is very similar in regards to that and how he wants his team to play. So you look at certain players and their characteristics. We scouted someone like Josh Brownhill. He’s another one we took to Bristol City and he was a Lee Johnson player. Full of energy, back and forth, in your face and he can play a bit as well.

Rangers Review: (Image: NQ)

“I like piecing the jigsaw together but at the end of the day, you don’t claim any player. There’s a nucleus of eight or nine people, there’s probably a dossier of a thousand pages of stats with technical guys to back up X, Y and Z and then there’s also the element of a manager liking a player.

“Sometimes a manager just likes a player or has played against that player and he would rather have him in his team than against him. At the end of the day, it’s a game of opinions but I love it. It gets you out and about and keeps you involved at a decent level.

“I’m having good conversations as part of recruitment meetings with football clubs and seeing what goes on behind the scenes. You’re part of that, you’re sitting there with football managers talking about recruitment, talking about how they want to play and the types of players that they want. From that point of view, I love it.”