Another manager has now just told Rangers he doesn’t want Ibrox job after interview
Rangers’ bid to hire a new manager is hitting farcical heights.
Not only did it take way too long for Andrew Cavenagh and Paraag Marathe to fire Russell Martin after an abysmal start to the season, but they’ve also failed to hire their first-choice replacement in Steven Gerrard.
After interviewing for the Ibrox vacancy in London last week, Gerrard rejected the chance to return to Rangers, leading to a last-gasp scramble to get a new man in charge before Saturday’s return to Scottish Premiership action against Dundee United.
Danny Rohl and Kevin Muscat have since emerged as leading candidates for the job.
However, Cavenagh and Marathe have been dealt a major new blow in their bid to find a permanent successor to Martin.
Danny Rohl backs out of talks to become new Rangers manager
Former Sheffield Wednesday manager Rohl has told Rangers he’s no longer interested in taking charge at Ibrox.
According to Rangers Review journalist Chris Jack, Rohl was interviewed last week and was eager to show up at Auchenhowie and get ready for Saturday’s showdown with Dundee United.
However, Rohl “now feels that the timing is not right for him to continue in the process” and he has “reluctantly” turned down the opportunity to return to management in his biggest role yet at Ibrox.
The 36-year-old German has been without a job since leaving crisis club Sheffield Wednesday in the summer.
- Rohl’s only first-team management job has been at Hillsborough.
- As per stats by Sofascore, Rohl won 38 per cent of his matches in charge of the Owls.
- He’s also worked as a coach at RB Leipzig, Southampton and Bayern Munich, while also serving as an assistant manager for the German national team.
This means that Shanghai Port manager Muscat is the only serious candidate at this point, unless Rangers have other irons in the fire that have not yet been revealed publicly.
However, the caveat with Muscat is that Shanghai Port are top of the Chinese Super League and have four games left to play before their season finishes in late November.
Neil McCann could be a short-term solution and take interim charge until Muscat arrives officially.
However, with Gerrard and Rohl now batting away the Ibrox job, it remains to be seen how long Muscat will stay in contention.
Who will be in the dug-out now vs Dundee United?
According to Jack, Rangers’ Under-19s manager Stevie Smith could be asked to take charge of the senior side when Jim Goodwin’s Dundee United head to Ibrox this weekend.
Smith has led training at Auchenhowie since Martin’s dismissal, so he’s likely to have a better handle on the squad right now than anyone else.
McCann has been in Glasgow recently to cover Scotland’s World Cup qualifying win over Belarus for BBC Scotland, so there’s still the chance that he can agree terms quickly and take the reins on Saturday.
However, McCann’s return to Ibrox is likely to depend on Muscat and whether or not the Aussie will agree terms to become the second manager of the American ownership at Rangers.
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