Rangers need to re-think manager search after John Eustace news on Monday
Birmingham City announced on the morning of Monday 9 October that they have parted company with manager John Eustace, leaving the door open for Rangers to rethink their current stance on the English boss.
Eustace had been linked with the move north of the border while speculation continued over Michael Beale’s future [Mirror, 7 September], with his successful spell at Birmingham attracting suitors.
Journalist Chris Jack shared overnight on 8 October that Eustace would not be given the Rangers job, saying “Eustace isn’t getting the Rangers job tomorrow” in response to a fan, seemingly ruling out that avenue of exploration.
For the manager to have saved Birmingham from what seemed like certain relegation last year, and in the end, they survived quite comfortably by a nine-point gap over the relegation zone, to having them in sixth place at the time of his dismissal, is a brilliant achievement.
It has gone under the radar how well Eustace did with Birmingham, and ultimately his sacking seems to have been for marketing reasons as the club look set to bring in Wayne Rooney to replace him with a big-name boss who left his role at DC United, kicking off a domino effect.
Now that he has been sacked, Rangers will be able to avoid having to pay a fee to release him from his contract and could be handed a straight run at the boss who has reportedly attracted Premier League interest.
As things stand, no Premier League club would be able to act on that interest unless they were to pull the trigger on their own boss, but Rangers’ managerial vacancy would allow them to move straight away in an attempt to lure Eustace to Ibrox.
Birmingham City had a record of five wins, three draws and three losses from their opening 11 games of the Championship season, having beaten West Brom 3-1 just two days ago, and the boss could carry that good form to Ibrox with him.
According to The Sun [8 October], face-to-face talks with managerial candidates were set to begin in London today, with Kevin Muscat, Scott Parker, Phillipe Clement and Pascal Jansen on the shortlist of names, but Eustace should be added in a rethink from the board.
In other Rangers news, a timeline has been put in place for the new manager’s arrival.