John Park: Former Celtic scout joins Rangers

John Park, a former head of recruiting for Celtic, has joined Rangers as a senior scout.

After serving in his most recent position at Blackburn in the Sky Bet Championship, the 64-year-old has started working at Ibrox.

He lived in Glasgow for nine years, from 2007 to 2016, where he assisted in the identification of Virgil van Dijk, Fraser Foster, Victor Wanyama, and Moussa Dembele.

After Brendan Rodgers became Celtic’s manager and hired Lee Congerton to handle the club’s transfer business, Park moved to Sunderland in 2016.

Before leaving Blackburn Rovers at the end of the previous season, the recruitment specialist collaborated with Tony Mowbray there and helped transform the Ewood Park team into a Championship play-off contender.

Ross Wilson, the club’s sporting director, and Park are said to get along well, so it is hoped that Park will aid the team in their player trading model, which involves buying players before selling them for a profit.

The current head of recruitment, Andy Scoulding, will move to Spurs, but Park won’t take his place immediately.