By George Overhill

23rd Nov, 2022 | 5:10pm

David Martindale now tipped for Rangers role after Livingston boss ruled out of manager hunt

David Martindale would get buy-in from fans and players at Rangers if he was given the assistant job to the new manager, says Alan Rough.

The Livingston boss ruled himself out of the running for the vacant manager’s role at Ibrox after Giovanni van Bronckhorst was sacked on Monday (21 November).

But former Scotland goalkeeper Rough believes the SPFL November manager of the month, who spent time at Rangers as a youth player, possesses the right character to lift the dressing room as a number two.

Speaking on PLZ’s The Football Show on Tuesday (22 November, 25min 40sec) Rough said: “I just feel David Martindale would be the kind of guy as a number two at a massive club like Rangers, I think the fans would buy into him and the players would buy into him as well.

“We all buy into everything he says – he’s a pretty honest guy, seems to know his football – and I think maybe as a number two, and I’m not saying he’s going to leave Livingston, but I’ve just got a funny feeling you need somebody like that going about the dressing room when things are a wee bit low.

“You need somebody to lift everybody up, and he’s got that character.”

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Martindale may not be ready for a job the size of the Rangers manager role yet, but he has impressed in his two years in charge at Livi.

He has now won three manager of the month awards, and was runner up in the cup two seasons ago, so it would be no surprise to see him move up in football soon.

While there are endless examples of management regimes without representation from the country they are based in having huge success, the lack of a Scottish candidate among the frontrunners for the Ibrox job was highlighted on the PLZ show.

And Martindale demonstrated a clear understanding of the dynamics when it comes to being in charge of either side of the Old Firm when reacting to Van Bronckhorst’s sacking.

So Rough’s suggestion is not the wildest idea, even if it is possibly unlikely that the most recent award-winning manager in the division would walk out and take up an assistant’s role at this point.

The Sun claimed on Monday night that whoever takes over has to do so on the condition that they work with a Scottish assistant, and Kevin Thomson, who was assertive in his views on who should be in charge, has been linked.

But Martindale will be one to watch in the coming seasons and the chances that he ends up in Glasgow in some capacity in future shouldn’t be ignored.

In other Rangers news, the club are currently working on just one candidate for manager but things could change.