Red Bull links to factor into Rangers thinking for Ibrox-linked manager who Josh Windass loved
The rumour mill is in overdrive as Rangers hunt a successor for Russell Martin.
Rangers sacked Martin on Sunday after a dismal 123-day spell in charge at Ibrox in which the former Southampton boss managed just five wins from 17 competitive fixtures.
Steven Gerrard has been linked with a Rangers return, while chief executive Kevin Thelwell has reportedly spoken with Sean Dyche over the vacancy at Ibrox.
Chairman Andrew Cavenagh and vice-chairman Paraag Marathe this week sent an open letter to Gers supporters admitting they got their first managerial appointment since assuming control of the Light Blues wrong.
Danny Rohl may have Rangers advantage
The next appointment is simply one the hierarchy at Ibrox have to get right and Ben Jacobs reported via X on Sunday that Danny Rohl is a name that still interests Rangers.
Interestingly, the former Sheffield Wednesday manager has previously worked in the Red Bull system, and was an assistant to Ralph Hassenhuttl at RB Leipzig before he followed him to Southampton.
49ers Enterprises, part of a consortium with Cavenagh who own Rangers, have close links to Red Bull, who own a minority stake in Leeds United – part of the 49ers Enterprises stable.
Ibrox News spoke exclusively to Sheffield Star journalist Joe Crann about Rohl and he feels the close ties could have some bearing when it comes to making a decision on the new manager, though added he expects other factors to come into play.
“The Red Bull style is one that is liked by a lot of people because it is a dynamic style of football and the bigger picture with it all is quite grand,” said Crann, who has over 200,000 followers on his official X account.
“You would think that that is the sort of thing that would contribute to a thought process when they’re looking at managers but I don’t think it would be the be-all and end-all of it either.”
Read more: Chris Sutton hit out at Russell Martin after he was sacked by Rangers
Josh Windass had high praise for Danny Rohl
Martin reportedly had a difficult relationship with certain members of his Rangers squad, with suggestions he fell out with captain James Tavernier and midfielder Nico Raskin.
Rohl initially had an outstanding relationship with the Owls fanbase, having overseen a dramatic great escape in the English Championship during the 2023-24 season before they placed 12th last term.
However, a drawn-out exit from the cash-strapped club amid a dispute with owner Dejphon Chansiri soured things a little.
Crann explained how that was replicated with his Wednesday squad, with the likes of former Rangers forward Josh Windass among those to have revered Rohl – a former assistant to Hansi Flick at Bayern Munich and Germany – as a coach when he first joined.
“His relationship with the Wednesday players was great at one point, you had Josh Windass and Barry Bannan and experienced players saying he’s the best manager they’ve worked with,” Crann added.
“By the end, I don’t think the feeling was quite so rosy because of how things ended with him not being there for the start of pre-season and then coming back.
“I think that Danny was smart at Wednesday in terms of the people he got in, he brought in Chris Powell who was incredibly well liked, he brought in Henrik Pedersen who’s obviously the manager now. There were people who were there who helped take on the various different roles he felt were needed.
“The thing that Danny has in his favour is that he has worked with some of the greatest players in the world during his time with the national team with Germany, with Bayern, not necessarily as manager but he’s worked there.
“If you’ve got a striker maybe not pulling his weight, you can turn around and go and say ‘yeah, well this is what Robert Lewandowski would have done’ and that’s not a bad card to pull out of your wallet.”
Danny Rohl to be more fluid than Russell Martin
One criticism that Gers supporters particularly levelled at Martin was his reluctance to switch up his possession-based style of play.
Crann thinks that while Rohl also likes a possession-heavy style, he would prove far more fluid with his own tactics.
“He’s quite happy to mix things up in terms of his formation. We saw him with a back three and a back four at Wednesday. There were times when he utilised wing-backs, times when he didn’t,” he said.
“There are two very different goals in terms of Wednesday and Rangers. His time at Wednesday there was a lot of damage limitation trying to be done. They weren’t necessarily facing a lot of low blocks, which is obviously something Rangers have to deal with because it’s Rangers, so teams are just trying to stop them scoring.
“With Wednesday, especially in the first season, he was able to be a bit more aggressive in the sense that he wasn’t going up against teams that were worried about what Wednesday were going to do because of the situation they found themselves in.
“But Danny likes to play quick football, you will see that his sides do like to have the ball, I don’t think it will be a complete step away from Russell Martin’s style in terms of having more of the ball than opponents. But the way he wants to play gets you up the pitch quicker and we saw in his time at Wednesday there were some really nice team moves, some that got you goals, some that didn’t because they didn’t have that killer touch at the end of it.
“Danny got Wednesday playing some really nice stuff and that’s something that could excite Rangers fans if he was to go there.”
Djeida Gassama flourished under Danny Rohl
One of the few players to receive any credit in a Rangers shirt this season is electric winger Djeidi Gassama, a player well known to Rohl given he joined from Wednesday this summer.
Crann thinks Rohl is the sort of coach who could help the 22-year-old reach new levels.
- Gassama has five goals and one assist in 16 Rangers appearances this season.
- He made 84 appearances for the Owls, scoring 12 goals.
- Gassama signed a four-year deal at Rangers in July.
“He knows him very well, and I think that Danny deserves a lot of credit for the way that Djeidi came on at Wednesday from when Danny came through the door,” he said.
“He’s already seen from a player’s perspective that Danny’s the sort of manager who can help him. And from Danny’s perspective, he sees that Djeidi’s the kind of player that can and wants to be helped as well.
“There’s been some really good moments from Djeidi, so I think he’s the sort of player who’s got a very high ceiling and having a manager that trusts and likes him can only help in that regard.”
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