Irresistible offer needed for Rangers to seal John Eustace manager appointment
After months of speculation and calls for change at Ibrox, Rangers have finally parted company with Michael Beale and are once again looking for a new manager.
The former QPR boss was sacked late on Sunday (1 October) having started the season poorly with the Ibrox club, with Saturday’s (30 September) 3-1 defeat at home to Aberdeen the final straw for the Rangers board to cut their ties with Beale.
Now attention turns to finding a replacement for the Gers and while there have been plenty of names already linked with the vacant position at the Scottish giants, there was one name that was linked to the role long before the decision was taken to sack Beale.
Birmingham City manager John Eustace was reportedly high on the Ibrox club’s list of potential replacements when Beale was initially under pressure earlier this season [Daily Mail, 6 September], but a move for the Blues boss could be quite costly.
Birmingham Live reporter Alex Dicken suggested that it would take an “irresistible” offer to tempt the 43-year-old to depart St Andrews, given the manager is well settled in the Midlands with a squad of players that are currently sitting 12th in the Championship [Birmingham Live, 14 September].
Now that Beale has departed Ibrox, it could well be time for Rangers to begin to put together this irresistible offer that is required to lure Eustace away from the Championship club, as the Light Blues must get this next appointment right.
Eustace has impressed in the Championship so far and has not only improved Birmingham’s fortunes in terms of the table and results, but he has completely transformed the style of play at St Andrew’s to be effective while utilising plenty of young talent.
The only thing that could be off-putting for the Ibrox hierarchy will be the need for another big-money fee, only 10 months after Beale’s appointment reportedly cost Rangers a fee of £1.5 million to secure his services from QPR [Football Scotland, 21 November 2022].
Given the size of the fee required to secure Eustace’s services, those in charge at Rangers will likely want to be sure he is the right man for the job before beginning negotiations over potential compensation. A lot of money has already been spent this season at Ibrox and there will be a reluctance to just throw more at the problem.
Whoever does take over the Light Blues will have a big job on their hands to turn around this miserable start to the campaign, but it will be interesting to see whether Rangers do find the money to lure the 43-year-old away from the Blues.
In other Rangers news, David Edgar has revealed that it could take some time for the Gers to find their new boss