The 49ers were part of the US consortium who took control of Rangers last year but York is not involved in the day-to-day running of the club.
Rangers and Leeds have both said they will not be commenting.
The 49ers said: “As this is a legal matter, which has been resolved, we will not be providing any further comment at this time.”
York became a co-owner of Rangers through 49ers Enterprises, the investment arm linked to the NFL’s San Francisco 49ers, where he serves as chief executive and principal owner.
In May 2025, a consortium led by US businessman Andrew Cavenagh and 49ers Enterprises completed a takeover of Rangers after acquiring a controlling 51% stake in the Scottish Premiership club.
Cavenagh became Rangers chairman, with 49ers Enterprises taking a leading role in the club’s ownership.
The takeover followed months of negotiations and brought Rangers under majority American-backed ownership.
49ers Enterprises first invested in Leeds United in 2018 when the club was in the Championship, steadily increasing its investment as the Whites returned to the Premier League following a 16-year absence, before assuming full control in 2023.
As an NFL owner, York is subject to league policies. “We are aware of the matter which will be reviewed under the personal conduct policy,” the NFL said.
ARLINGTON, Texas — Ezequiel Durán and Elias Díaz hit solo homers, Cal Quantrill worked six scoreless innings and the Texas Rangers beat the Angels 5-3 on Sunday.
With the win, the Rangers moved into a tie with the Houston Astros for first place in the AL West with records of 65-66.
Durán put Texas on the board early, launching his 14th home run of the year into the left-center seats for a 1-0 lead. Cody Freeman added an RBI triple — his first of the season — before Díaz extended the lead to 5-0 in the fifth inning with a solo homer, his sixth of the season.
Quantrill (6-4) gave up six hits, didn’t allow a walk and struck out six. He now boasts five straight starts of five or more innings allowing a run or less, and extended his scoreless innings streak to 15.
Jacob Latz worked a one-hit ninth for his 26th save of the season.
Zach Neto started an eighth-inning rally for the Angels (52-79) with a homer. Josh Lowe hit a sacrifice fly, and Gustavo Campero added an RBI single, but that was all the offense the Angels mustered.
Yusei Kikuchi (0-4) gave up five runs on seven hits. He struck out four in five innings.
Up next for the Angels: RHP George Klassen (2-1, 3.74 ERA) starts a home series against the Guardians on Monday. Cleveland has not named a starter.
Lawrence Shankland is “too good not to score regularly” and is sure to have a “big influence” at Rangers whether or not he starts games, insists manager Derek McInnes.
Shankland has scored once in five outings since his move to Ibrox and the captain was used as a substitute on Sunday as Rangers beat St Mirren 5-1 for their first win of the season.
The 31-year-old Scotland striker hit 22 goals for Hearts last term working under McInnes.
“When you have a player like Lawrence, who knows his way around the penalty box and how to score goals, I do not worry too much about it,” said McInnes.
“He is too good not to score regularly. He has consistently shown that over a period of time in the Premiership.
“Sometimes people can over emphasise these things. For me, it is a case of letting him play his natural game.
“The best strikers have that instinctive side to their game, where everything looks natural and seamless. I have no doubt he will do well here.”
McInnes chose to start with Ryan Naderi in the Premier Sports Cup victory over St Mirren and the German opened the scoring, while Nico Raskin was skipper.
“I said that when I spoke to Lawrence,” added McInnes. “Being captain does not guarantee anything, and he accepted that. He is not going to stamp his feet about it. Having worked with Lawrence before, he is a brilliant captain and a brilliant boy.
“You want your captain to have a big influence on and off the pitch, and I believe Lawrence will have that.”
“The priority is at the top end of the pitch,” said McInnes. “Number nines are normally more difficult ones to do, and it wasn’t an area we were looking at before Youseff’s injury.
“We’re hoping we can land on the one that we want and hopefully we can bring them here quickly.”
Driouech, who predominantly plays on the left, scored nine goals and provided eight assists in 40 appearances last season.
However, he was often used as a substitute, starting just once in PSV’s eight Champions League outings and coming off the bench 24 times in the Eredivisie.
Rangers have signed nine players over the summer and chairman Andrew Cavenagh said on Monday he expected “three to five more” while “a number will possibly go out”, with midfielder Mohamed Diomande sold to Turkish club Corum on Wednesday.
Having come through the youth ranks at Heerenveen, Driouech rose to prominence with Excelsior, making 101 appearances and scoring 16 goals before his high-profile transfer to PSV in the summer of 2024.
Known for his quick feet, speed, precise finishing and ability to play on both wings, Haarlem-born Driouech had the choice of also representing France and the Netherlands but was part of the Morocco squad that won the Under-23 Africa Cup of Nations in 2023.
Walbert Ureña gave up two hits in six innings, Mike Trout and Denzer Guzman led a 15-hit outburst with three singles and an RBI apiece, and the Angels beat the Texas Rangers 7-0 on Thursday night.
Josh Lowe added two hits and two RBIs, and Adam Frazier had two hits and an RBI for the Angels, who extended their win streak to three and had at least 10 hits in a game for the first time since July 8.
Ureña (8-8) struck out five and walked two while lowering his ERA to 2.67. The rookie right-hander has a 2.43 ERA in 18 games since May 1 and has given up no more than one run in 13 of those starts. José Fermin, Tayler Saucedo and Sammy Peralta each threw a scoreless inning to complete the five-hitter.
Rangers starter Jacob deGrom, who has been battling a left hip and glute injury since the All-Star break, was pulled after two innings because of right triceps fatigue.
The 38-year-old right-hander escaped a two-on, one-out jam in the first but gave up two runs and five hits during a 32-pitch second — the first time deGrom (8-8) gave up five hits in an inning since Sept. 5, 2017, with the New York Mets.
Guzman sparked the Angels’ second-inning rally with a single. He went to third on Lowe’s double and scored on Frazier’s one-out single. Lowe tried to score from second on Frazier’s hit but was thrown out by left fielder Wyatt Langford. Wade Meckler singled and Trout hit an RBI single for a 2-0 lead.
The Angels broke open the game with four runs and six hits off Texas left-hander Jordan Montgomery in the fifth.
Singles by Trout, Nolan Schanuel and Vaughn Grissom loaded the bases. Guzman drove in a run with an infield single, Lowe hit a two-run single and Jose Siri’s RBI groundout made it 6-0. Siri added an RBI single in the seventh.
Thursday’s defeat – which drops Rangers into a Conference League play-off against Czechs Jablonec – comes on the back of the nightmare news Youssef Chermiti was ruled out with a long-term knee injury just after Rangers rejected a big-money bid for the 22-year-old.
It means Rangers have had to set their sights on recruiting a new striker in addition to the wingers and defenders McInnes had already targeted. He says the club are “working so hard to get the necessary type of players”, with PSV Eindhoven winger Couhaib Driouech set to be the latest arrival.
Halliday thinks the squad “shouldn’t be that imbalanced this late into the transfer window” and reckons they need “three centre-halves, one left-back, two, arguably, three wingers”.
“But the current squad that’s available should be enough to beat Dundee United, it should be enough to beat Hibs and, to be honest, it should be enough to beat Jagiellonia Bialystok,” he said.
Rangers were obviously hoping reuniting McInnes with Lawrence Shankland would be a winning formula after they went so close to wrenching the title away from Celtic while at Hearts last season.
However, former Rangers striker Steven Thompson thinks Shankland is already finding out the extra pressure he faces as the club’s new captain.
“It’s the weight of playing for Rangers, the weight of not having the start that he wanted, and the weight of taking a bad touch,” he said.
“At previous clubs, if you take a bad touch and give it away, you might get a few pelters. Here tonight, when Lawrence Shankland’s link-up play wasn’t that good or he should’ve had a shot when he didn’t, they are on you and it is going to take him a bit to get used to that I think. It’s not physical, it’s mental.”
Rangers are being “proactive” in seeking a new striker after Youssef Chermiti was ruled out long term, says manager Derek McInnes, who warned defensive injuries have left the club “playing with fire”.
Chermiti, 22, sustained an anterior cruciate ligament injury in Saturday’s defeat by Hibernian, shortly after McInnes confirmed a bid had been rejected for the Portugal Under-21 cap. Galatasaray have been linked with the former Everton player.
A specialist in London will be consulted, with a possible operation next week.
Chermiti is joined on the sidelines by left-back Tuur Rommens, who has been ruled out for up to eight weeks with a groin problem suffered in the same game.
McInnes, whose side will attempt to overturn a 2-1 first-leg deficit at home to Jagiellonia Bialystok in their Europa League third-round qualifier on Thursday, said of Chermiti: “Obviously, really disappointing for ourselves.
“Selfishly, he’s a big part of what we wanted to do this season and he’s obviously a talented boy.
“For Youssef himself, obviously he’s very young. It’ll be difficult for him to accept and understand what’s happened to him.
“The only saving grace from our point of view as a club is the fact it’s happened in a transfer window and we’ve got the opportunity to react to that.
“The plan was for Youssef to stay in. Obviously it was a big number that was reportedly bid for him. I don’t know exactly what the figure was. Obviously the club rejected that. It’s neither here nor there now, to be honest. It’s done.
“We are obviously looking at maybe strengthening that area of the pitch. We’re trying to be quite proactive with that and seeing what is available. Number nines are normally the most difficult ones to get.”
Brandon Nimmo singled home the go-ahead run in the 10th inning and the Texas Rangers beat the Angels 4-1 on Monday night to snap a five-game road losing streak.
Texas (60-59) has won five of its last six overall and is a half-game behind AL West-leading Houston.
Nimmo and Elias Díaz each finished with two hits and an RBI.
Peyton Gray (6-0) pitched a 1-2-3 ninth to earn the win. Jacob Latz worked a scoreless 10th for his 23rd save.
Luke Murphy (0-1) came on to start the 10th for the Angels. Wyatt Langford drew a leadoff walk and Corey Seager singled to load the bases. Ezequiel Duran popped out, Blake Weiman replaced Murphy and Nimmo’s line drive to right field drove in automatic runner Nicky Lopez before Jake Burger’s two-run single capped the scoring.
Mike Trout hit a 418-foot shot for the Angels (45-74), his 20th home run this season, in the first inning. The three-time AL MVP was one for two and walked three times, one intentional.
Angels right fielder Wade Meckler robbed Seager of a home run to end the seventh and preserve a 1-1 tie.
Díaz singled to drive in Duran and make it 1-1 in the fourth.
Texas starter MacKenzie Gore struck out nine in 5⅓ innings. He allowed four hits and walked two. The 27-year-old left-hander was reinstated from paternity leave Saturday after his fiancée, Alex, gave birth to their first child.
Angels starter Reid Detmers gave up one run and had six strikeouts in six innings. He allowed three hits and walked four.
Up next: Angels RHP Ryan Johnson (2-6, 7.11 ERA) starts Tuesday opposite LHP Cody Bradford (0-0, 0.00) as the series continues.
After their Europa League qualifying loss in Poland, McInnes called on his side to “be far more stingy with our work, defend the goal with our lives, don’t give our opponent opportunities” and criticised the squad for showing the same worrying characteristics that were the club’s ruin last season.
His side showed little sign of turning this around in the short space of time since their European trip.
Against Hibs on Sunday afternoon, his third different back four of the season struggled to hold their shape and summer signing Vanja Dragojevic soon grappled Josh Kerr to the ground for a penalty as the errors continued.
These faults, coupled with a lack of consistency in playing partners, is compounding the misery.
Their draw with Dundee United started with a back-line comprising of Ben Godfrey, Dujon Sterling, Emmanuel Fernandez and Tuur Rommens.
Away in Poland, it was Ross McCrorie, Sterling, Emmanuel Fernandez and Rommens.
When David Gray’s team came to town it was Dragojevic, Olwethu Makhanya, Fernandez and Rommens.
These issues need to be ironed out quickly by the coaching staff as their Europa League qualification hangs in the balance prior to Thursday’s second leg against Jagiellonia Bialystok.
McInnes thought the defeat by Hibs was “really harsh on us” as “we were the better team” and “deserved far better than we got” in a game in which Hibs took the lead through a penalty he disputed.
“It’s damaging in the sense that we came here to win and we expect to win,” he said.
“What we’ve got to do now is just dust ourselves down because that was a blow for us.
“The response of the team in the latter part of the game was terrific.”
Their selection inconsistency is mirrored in their form on the park too.
Allan added: “Performing consistently is what [brings] results and winning silverware, and I know its very early on, but there is no consistency in how Rangers were playing today.”
Neither Russell Martin nor Danny Rohl were able to restore past glories in their short stints in Govan while McInnes was taking Hearts to the verge of immortality.
Much of the condemnation surrounding the Ibrox club’s failures last season came back to the same theme – they may be fluid and clinical going forward at times, but a soft underbelly put paid to hopes of success.
“I thought we gave up too many chances and gave teams too much encouragement,” the 55-year-old added post match in Poland.
“We’ve got to be honest and say we are guilty of beating ourselves tonight. And that’s no disrespect to our opponent because on transitions and counter-attack, it fuels them.”
Rangers were flailing in the opening 45 minutes as Jagiellonia cut them open with ease, capitalising on numerous lapses in concentration.
Twelve minutes into the game, Thelo Aasgaard tried an audacious spin on the edge of the hosts’ box, attempting to squeeze the ball through a small gap in the defence.
One minute later it was in the back of Rangers’ net following an impressive counter.
“There’s no bigger drain on confidence for any player, team, support than losing cheap goals,” McInnes said.
“There were mistakes for the goals, and I understand that can happen, but we have got to be far more stingy with our work, defend the goal with our lives, don’t give our opponent opportunities.
“At no cost is that ball going in our box, at no cost are they going to get a chance, and we’ve got to have a bit more of that approach to our work.”
The central defensive partnership of Dujon Sterling and Emmanuel Fernandez looked particularly shaky.
“If you spoke to McInnes right now without a microphone in front of him, and you asked him, ‘Do you trust Fernandez?’, there’s no way he says yes, no way,” former Rangers midfielder Andy Halliday said on BBC Sportsound.
“But he doesn’t have an option at this moment in time to play someone else.
“I’m being very critical here, but I think Fernandez has every attribute to be a top, top central defender, yet it looks as if he hasn’t had the education growing up of the basics of being a central defender.”
Japanese winger Daisuke Yokota hopes to make “special memories” after joining Rangers from Hannover.
Yokota, 26, has joined on a three-year deal with the option of an additional year and becomes the Ibrox side’s ninth summer signing.
He moved to Germany as a teenager and spent time with FSV Frankfurt and Carl Zeiss Jena before stints in Latvia with Valmiera and in Poland with Gornik Zabrze.
A move to Belgian side Gent followed in 2024, but Yokota was unable to establish himself in the first team and was loaned to Kaiserslautern and Hannover.
Hannover signed him permanently earlier this summer off the back of five goals and four assists in the German second tier.
“I’m really excited to be joining Rangers,” Yokota told club media. “This is a massive club with a fantastic history, passionate supporters and high ambitions so it’s a proud moment for me.
“My aim is to help the team achieve success this season and I hope we can create some special memories together.”
Former Rangers striker Steven Thompson agreed with McInnes that there is no need to panic.
“It’s not the result Rangers wanted, but it is a point away from home at a difficult venue,” he said on BBC Radio Scotland. “Other teams will come here and find it very difficult.
“At this point in the season, there’s no knee-jerk [reaction] or anything here.
“It’s not what McInnes wants, but it’s the first game of the season. There will be time to judge once he gets the players he wants and once he gets more work done on the training ground.
“He will have learned a lot from his players tonight.”
On a night where Pandur, centre-back Ben Godfrey and former Hearts duo Cammy Devlin and Lawrence Shankland all made their debuts from the start, it was a glimpse into what this new-look Rangers side might look like under McInnes.
Summer signings Dan Neil and Ross McCrorie also came on as substitutes and McInnes made it clear there will be further additions in the weeks to come.
However, former Rangers man Andy Halliday saw what he believes to have been flaws in McInnes’ tactical set-up.
“No matter how many defenders you play with, the main fundamental is being compact, and I thought Rangers were the furthest thing from compact,” he said on Sportsound.
“All the best individuals, other than Thelo Aasgaard, were Dundee United players.
“Rangers are a work in progress, I think they’ll still make additions to try and improve, but it certainly wasn’t the start they were looking for.”
South Africa defender Olwethu Makhanya has become Rangers’ eighth summer signing, joining for an undisclosed fee from Philadelphia Union.
The 22-year-old centre-back played for the Major League Soccer side 53 times after breaking into the first team last year.
He has signed a four-year deal at Ibrox with the option of a further year.
“I can’t even explain how I am feeling right now, it is honestly a big honour and a huge blessing for me to join such a big club with so much history. I can’t wait to get started,” Makhanya said.
“For me, it has always been a dream to play football in Europe, ever since I was a kid, so to be here is a dream come true.”
Makhanya, who started his career with Stellenbosch in his homeland, was rewarded for his impressive club form by being included in South Africa’s 2026 World Cup squad.
The defender did not play at this summer’s finals, but Rangers boss Derek McInnes feels he has all the tools to thrive in Scotland.
“He’s got a lot of athleticism and good potential,” McInnes said prior to his side’s Scottish Premiership opener at Dundee United on Friday.
“And while he’s coming from the MLS, to a different country and a different type of football, we feel he’s got the attributes that can cope with that.”
Rangers and Celtic face disciplinary charges over the unrest that followed their Scottish Cup meeting at Ibrox in March.
The Scottish Football Association has issued identical notices of complaints to both clubs as it published the independent review on the events surrounding the quarter-final tie.
Both are accused of breaching the SFA’s rule 37, which centres on “good order and security” and “unacceptable conduct”.
The rule covers “policies and procedures” and whether clubs take appropriate measures to identify and deal with supporters who engage in unacceptable conduct.
The clubs face hearings on 13 August.
There were clashes on the pitch after eventual cup-winners Celtic prevailed via a penalty shoot-out on 8 March.
Some visiting fans spilled onto the playing surface to celebrate, with home supporters then trying to confront them as fireworks were thrown back and forth.
At least 37 people have been arrested over the trouble, which resulted in injuries to police and stewards.
Meanwhile, the review describes the events of 8 March as as “a near miss”, saying the ugly scenes “came within a very small margin of becoming a violent mass confrontation”.
Lead author Mark Blackbourne also states that a “crushing incident was a real and foreseeable risk” due to “non-compliant Ultra group fans surging past police and stewards”.
The report adds: “Ultra groups exercise a power over clubs and the wider supporter base that is disproportionate to their size” and that “there seems to be no independent external scrutiny of the clubs’ or Police Scotland’s operational plans for high-risk fixtures”.
ARLINGTON, Texas — Wyatt Langford lined a shot off the wall in left field to bring home Alejandro Osuna in the ninth inning, lifting Texas to a 7-6 victory over the Angels after the Rangers blew a five-run lead Thursday night.
Langford struck out three of his first four times up as the designated hitter after getting activated from the 10-day injured list in his return from a left hamstring strain.
Osuna led off the ninth with a single and went to second on pinch-hitter Nicky Lopez’s sacrifice bunt. Langford lined a 1-and-1 fastball from former Texas closer Kirby Yates (0-4) over Jose Siri’s head for the winning single.
Jo Adell had a tying, pinch-hit single to cap a five-run seventh a night after homering twice in the Angels’ 13-1 victory.
Cole Winn (4-2) got Adell on a sharp liner to center field to end the ninth with the potential go-ahead run at third after replacing All-Star closer Jacob Latz, who went 1⅔ innings in his first outing in nine days.
Nathan Eovaldi struck out a season-high 10 for Texas but failed to get his 10th win for the fifth consecutive start. He exited with no outs in the seventh after Dezner Guzman reached on catcher’s interference, Logan O’Hoppe walked and Wade Meckler’s single scored Guzman.
Peyton Gray replaced Eovaldi and gave up a two-run single to Nolan Schanuel, who had four hits, and an RBI single to Jorge Soler.
Brandon Nimmo, Ezequiel Duran and Justin Foscue homered for Texas in the first four innings against Reid Detmers. The left-hander hadn’t given up more than one long ball in any of his first 18 starts.
Up next: Neither team announced the rotation for its final series before the All-Star break. Indications are the Angels will go with RHP Grayson Rodriguez (2-2, 8.06 ERA) on Friday at Minnesota. He has been on the injured list since mid-June because of lower back tightness. Texas is home against Houston.
ARLINGTON, Tex. — Mike Trout hit a two-run homer in his return from the injured list, Jo Adell had two home runs and drove in a career-high five runs and the Angels beat the Texas Rangers 13-1 on Wednesday night.
Trout, who missed 17 games due to a strained right hamstring, hit a 438-foot shot that gave the Angels an 11-0 lead in the eighth. Trout has 48 homers against the Rangers, the most by any player since the franchise moved to Texas in 1972 and the second-most ever against the club. Reggie Jackson hit 54 home runs against the Washington Senators/Texas Rangers.
Adell hit a two-run shot in the fourth inning and a three-run homer in the fifth that made it 7-0.
Vaughn Grissom went 4 for 5 with a double and four RBIs, and Zach Neto was 3 for 4 with two doubles and three runs. Denzer Guzman and Jose Siri each had two hits.
Angels starter Walbert Ureña threw 90 pitches and walked five in four scoreless innings before he was replaced by Samy Natera Jr. (1-0) to begin the fifth. Natera, a rookie left-hander, had five strikeouts in two perfect innings for his first career win.
Neto doubled to lead off the game, and scored when Grissom singled off MacKenzie Gore (5-8).
Pinch-hitter Kyle Higashioka hit a leadoff homer in the ninth for the Rangers.
Higashioka pitched the ninth — his second career appearance on the mound — and gave up two runs. The 36-year-old catcher also gave up two runs in a 12-2 loss to Minnesota on June 16.
Gore gave up seven runs and nine hits with seven strikeouts in five innings.
ARLINGTON, Tex. — Alejandro Osuna hit a three-run homer during a five-run eighth inning and the Texas Rangers pulled away for an 8-3 win over the Angels on Tuesday night.
Osuna’s first homer of the season followed RBI singles by Ezequiel Duran and Justin Foscue in the six-hit inning off Sam Bachman (1-2). Foscue also hit a pinch-hit home run in the seventh, tying the score 3-3.
Peyton Gray (4-0) pitched a scoreless eighth for the win for the Rangers, who pulled within one-half game of first-place Seattle in the AL West.
The last-place Angels have lost seven consecutive games, tying their longest losing streak of the season.
Rangers starter Jacob deGrom left after throwing 80 pitches in five innings because of an issue with his left hip and leg. DeGrom said he’s often felt tightness there between starts, but it usually goes away before he pitches again. This time it remained, preventing him from throwing changeups, and tightened in the fifth inning. He expects to make his next start.
DeGrom suffered first-inning struggles before settling in, his pattern this season. He gave up a pair of two-out runs in the first on Jorge Soler’s double that one-hopped the left-field wall and Josh Lowe’s single to shallow left after a wild pitch.
DeGrom didn’t give up another run, giving up five hits and two walks. In 18 starts this season, deGrom has a 9.50 ERA in the first inning and 2.29 afterward.
Texas tied the score 2-2 in the second on Nicky Lopez’s two-out, opposite-field single to left after two walks by José Soriano, who leads the AL with 51. Soriano didn’t walk another batter and gave up only two hits in six innings.
Rookie Wade Meckler’s RBI single off Chris Martin in the seventh gave the Angels a 3-2 lead before Foscue homered off Tayler Saucedo.
The Angels won the first three games against the Rangers this season.
Rangers are reportedly poised to sign Hull City goalkeeper Ivor Pandor, with Jack Butland moving in the opposite direction, as Aberdeen, Dundee, Dundee United and Motherwell are said to have received bids for key players.
Rangers have appointed Derek McInnes as manager on a three-year contract after agreeing a compensation deal with Scottish Premiership rivals Hearts.
McInnes is the third boss at Ibrox inside a year and replaces Danny Rohl, whose move to Austrian side RB Salzburg was confirmed earlier on Wednesday.
The 54-year-old joined Hearts from Kilmarnock last summer and led the Tynecastle club to a second-placed finish, missing out on the title to Celtic on a dramatic final day, but edging Rangers out of the Champions League qualifiers.
The former Rangers midfielder turned down an approach from the Ibrox club in December 2017 in order to stay at Aberdeen but has now followed Tynecastle captain Lawrence Shankland in moving from Hearts.
“It is a real honour,” McInnes said. “The demands here are clear and our supporters rightfully have high expectations. It is up to me, my staff and my players to meet those expectations, and have this club performing as it should.
“There is a lot of hard work ahead, but already the preparations have begun and I am looking forward to meeting the current squad in the coming weeks and welcoming some new faces.”
Alan Archibald, Paul Sheerin and Craig Clark will assist McInnes.
While Rohl was head coach, McInnes will have the title of manager and was the frontrunner as soon as it emerged that the German was keen to leave for Salzburg.
Chairman Andrew Cavenagh said the Scot is “someone we have always rated highly” and is “exactly what this club needs at this moment in time”.
He added: “His deep Scottish and Rangers experience are important for us. He knows how to win in this league, and he is coming off an extremely strong season with Hearts.”
Rohl, 37, replaced Russell Martin as head coach in October and steered Rangers into a three-way title fight, but a post-split collapse yielded a third-placed finish behind Celtic and Hearts as the Ibrox club ended the campaign without silverware.
Cavenagh – who publicly backed Rohl at the end of the season – thanked him for his “service and commitment to Rangers”.
“He and his staff put in a significant amount of hard work during his time in charge, which we are greatly appreciative of,” he added.
When Kings’ new head coach Peter Laviolette took a tour around the Los Angeles area, he thought he was only going to get a one-bedroom home with a view of the water. His children, though, piped in: “Make sure you get a four-bedroom,” Laviolette remembered his three children saying.
During Laviolette’s time away from the sport, the 61-year-old traveled to Scotland and watched his son play in the East Coast Hockey League. The time away has given Laviolette time to rethink his coaching, and after 30 years of coaching, including 23 as a head coach in the NHL, he’s bringing a trident approach to reshape culture and win games. Centering a hockey family is one part.
“For me, there’s three real important pieces,” Laviolette said. “First, build a family inside the locker room, inside the organization. Secondly, to really work to try and build the culture to get players and organizations to think about the choices they make and how that can affect the culture. And then the third part is the actual game on the ice, just making sure that every day from the start of training camp we work at the game.”
Los Angeles hired Laviolette to a three-year contract after he spent a year away from the sport. Laviolette’s coaching experience stretches 1,594 games, the ninth-highest career total, with six teams: the Capitals, Flyers, Islanders, Hurricanes and Predators. Most recently, he was fired by the Rangers in 2025 after two years with the team.
His postseason success might be the biggest draw for the Kings, who have seen middling success in the years since their second Stanley Cup title in 2014. Los Angeles made the playoffs each year since the 2021-22 season, but the team did not advance past the first round.
Meanwhile, Laviolette is only the fourth coach in hockey to lead three teams to the Stanley Cup Final. He last won with Carolina in 2006, but he earned two President’s Trophies in 2017-18 and 2023-24 with the Predators and the Rangers.
Kings general manager Ken Holland, left, and Peter Laviolette pose for a photo during the new coach’s introductory news conference Wednesday at the team’s training facility in El Segundo.
(Eric Thayer / Los Angeles Times)
Still, Laviolette, despite his track record of first-year turnarounds, is joining a team in flux. The Kings fired coach Jim Hiller after the Olympic break. Interim coach D.J Smith helped guide the team to an 11-6-6 finish, aided in part by a trade for Rangers winger Artemi Panarin, whom Laviolette has also coached.
“I had a really good relationship with Artemi in New York,” Laviolette said. “He’s one of the most talented players I’ve ever coached, and I’m really happy to get to work with him again. He’s an amazing talent.”
Using the winger to go on the prowl is one of the small changes Laviolette plans to bring. The Kings have historically prioritized defense in a league that has shifted to attacking. Los Angeles fell to 30th in goals per game last season (2.68), the first time the Kings averaged fewer than three goals since the 2021-22 season. The team was also 28th in power-play percentage at 17%. Laviolette acknowledged that Los Angeles needed to change, highlighting that an attack-forward mindset has been a keystone of his coaching.
“I don’t think it should be irresponsible to defense,” he said. “But through my experiences, and even just watching the playoffs right now, this is an attack-oriented game, and you have to be willing to move.”
Where does Panarin fit?
“He has the ability to be a game-breaker and a difference-maker,” Laviolette said. “He’s not just a goal scorer. He’s not just a playmaker. He’s elusive. He’s shifty.”
The goal for next season is to score 250 times, according to Kings’ vice president and general manager Ken Holland. The team scored 220 last season.
“We’ve got to get back to scoring more goals,” Holland said. “Part of that’s going to be personnel driven, part of that’s going to be probably style‑of‑play driven, mentality, and certainly the head coach has a lot to do with it.”
As Laviolette meets current staffers and decides whom to bring in, Holland is managing the phones to reach out to assistant coaches and players. Smith has definitively moved on. Phil Housley, whom Laviolette described as an “excellent coach,” could be another potential candidate. Housley worked with Laviolette as one of the Rangers’ assistant coaches between 2023 and 2025.
Still, it’s hard to say the Kings will be a Cup contender with Laviolette. His teams tend to dramatically decline two or three seasons after his hiring. He struggles to develop younger players, instead relying on veterans to carry the weight. Laviolette will have to amplify players like Quinton Byfield and Brandt Clarke, each a talented 23-year-old with high ceilings.
The Kings’ success will rest in how well Los Angeles adapts to Laviolette’s coaching trident. The veteran coach, to his credit, projected confidence.
“When you put those three things together,” he said. “You can really become an unstoppable force.”
