Alex Rae has delivered his insight into the managerial chase at Rangers following Giovanni van Bronckhorst's sacking.
The Light Blues announced this morning the Dutchman had been sacked just over one year after taking on the top job at Ibrox. A combination of poor results and performances over recent months have ultimately proved his down fall with Celtic leading the way at the top of the Premiership by nine points. The long-awaited Champions League return also ended in forgettable circumstances with the Ibrox men ending up finishing bottom with six defeats from six and the tag as the 'worst ever' group stage team in history.
The hunt is now on for the next Rangers manager with the Scottish Premiership in cold storage for the next month while the World Cup takes place in Qatar. Rae believes the timing of the sacking 'makes sense' as he looked at a list of interesting candidates that the Light Blues could move for including Sean Dyche and Michael Beale while he discussed a potential return north for Steven Gerrard.
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Speaking to Grosvenor Sport, Rae said: "When you look at the timing of the sacking, it makes sense. There's time to appoint a new manager who will have time with the squad before the league resumes. You can't afford to lose points in that manner and to the teams they've lost to recently. One of the things I've realised with football in recent years is that the injuries the managers have to deal with become secondary, and it's all about results now. When you're losing points in games when you should be winning, it becomes very difficult, and at this stage, Celtic don't seem to be dropping many points.
"There are interesting candidates out there, if you look at Sean Dyche, with the experience he has, he'll need reassurance there's money to be spent to give him a fighting chance. Celtic have spent in the last few transfer windows, so whoever comes in will need a guarantee for signings to be made in the transfer windows.
"Gerrard would seriously have to consider the job. It hasn't worked out for him at Aston Villa, now he has the opportunity to come back to Rangers, which has almost presented itself to him, it might be a case of him coming back to somewhere he's familiar with and worked with the board previously.
"The manager will still have a good relationship with the board, don't forget Rangers got £4million for him to leave, so I'm sure Gerrard will seriously consider it.
"However, I would be very surprised if Rangers went down that road again, especially with the way Gerrard left. I’m not sure whether a certain section of fans would welcome Gerrard back.
"There are also links to Michael Beale, who has been heavily linked in recent months. He's done a good job at QPR. Maybe Chris Wilder too who did really well with Sheffield United, there are guys with good experience. I'll be fascinated to see what Rangers do.
"Rangers are an institution, I know for a fact that Michael Beale was very comfortable in Glasgow, so that might be a pull. I'm very surprised he did not take the Wolves job. If Rangers came knocking, it will be a more difficult decision for him to not come because he's had previous links with Rangers during their successful period. The Rangers fans really want Michael Beale to be a Rangers manager somewhere down the line."
Another name that has been floated is Kevin Muscat. He was followed a similar career path in management was Celtic boss Ange Postecoglou with league triumphs in Japan and Australia.
He added: "There's been a lot of speculation, my old teammate Kevin Muscat who just won the title in Japan, he's been linked as well. Muscat will be very much in tune with the transfer market and the J-League, which is something Rangers might consider to connect with a different market.
"The one things about Muscat, he is familiar with Rangers being a former player. It's an interesting one, it boils down to what the criteria is and what Rangers are looking for. If Rangers are looking to explore different markets, then Muscat will be the front-runner for the job. Some of the Japanese players who came to Celtic who have done really well and hit the ground running, at a reasonable price, so if that's what Rangers want to do then Muscat will be the priority. "
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