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Jim White claims Graeme Souness wanted Frank Lampard to become Rangers boss
TalkSPORT host Jim White has claimed Graeme Souness thought Frank Lampard would have been the right man to take over from Michael Beale at Rangers before the final decision was made.
Souness, who was assisting John Bennett and James Bisgrove in their manager search [Daily Record, 9 October], had since endorsed the arrival of Philippe Clement, but White claims Lampard was the man he wanted.
Ultimately, Rangers decided Clement was the man they wanted to take the club forward, and the Belgian has shared Souness spoke to him in-depth about the details of the team, the fans and the expectations [Rangers Review, 16 October].
White spoke live on air with Simon Jordan and Martin O’Neill, as shared by the talkSPORT YouTube channel [16 October], as he claimed: “You [Jordan] were not a fan of Frank [Lampard] in terms of being on the shortlist, and you didn’t think he should get the job.
“Although, it’s my understanding that Graeme Souness did think he was the man for the job, because Frank demonstrated, apparently, a real hunger to succeed with Rangers, but he didn’t get it.”
A surprise choice
Lampard had emerged as one of the early frontrunners for the Rangers job after Beale’s sacking and attended a meeting with the Ibrox hierarchy in London, which must have been where he impressed Souness with his drive and determination.
Ultimately, though, those links were quickly squashed and Lampard didn’t go any further in terms of his application for one reason or another, despite Souness’ glowing recommendation.
It is, at least, a positive to know Souness was also backing Clement for the job. His advice to the new boss about the passion of the fans and the expectations of the club should set him up nicely to take over with an understanding of what it means to be at Rangers.
All that can be done now is for fans to support Clement in his endeavours to bring Rangers back to a competitive footing where they can challenge for silverware at Ibrox.
In other Rangers news, Chris Sutton has shared the problem Clement already faces at Ibrox.