Rangers are searching for a new manager and Bodo/Glimt boss Kjetil Knutsen has allegedly registered his interest in the job.
Rangers decided to axe Michael Beale on Sunday night, less than a year since appointing him.
Beale just wasn’t able to take the club forward after replacing Giovanni van Bronckhorst last November.
Rangers are now looking for another new boss and the rumour mill is already going into overdrive with a host of contenders linked.
Kjetil Knutsen keen on Rangers job
90Min report that Bodo/Glimt boss Kjetil Knutsen has ‘expressed an interest’ in becoming Rangers boss.
Philippe Clement and Chris Wilder are also thought to have shown an interest after Beale’s exit.
Knutsen is the only one of the three to still be in work elsewhere though with his work at Bodo/Glimt ongoing.
Knutsen has now been in charge of Bodo/Glimt for nearly six years, taking charge of almost 250 games and winning 142 of them.
The 55-year-old has now won two Eliteserien titles whilst taking Bodo/Glimt into Europe, famously hammering Jose Mourinho’s Roma in 2021.
Knutsen has built up a superb reputation at Bodo/Glimt, playing ‘kamikaze’ football according to defender Ulrik Saltnes.
Exit rumours have surrounded Knutsen for a while now and he may feel the time is right to move on to a club like Rangers.
Bodo/Glimt success rate a mixed bag
The Bodo/Glimt story has been unbelievable in recent years but few have achieved success away from the club.
The likes of Fredrik Bjorkan and Patrick Berg landed moves to top-five European leagues but struggled and ended up returning to Bodo/Glimt.
Philip Zinckernagel has blown hot and cold, Jens Petter Hauge hasn’t lived up to his potential, Hakon Evjen disappointed in the Netherlands and Ola Solbakken struggled with Roma.
The success rate upon leaving Bodo/Glimt has been very small; only Victor Boniface stands out from Knutsen’s star players.
There may be a fear with Knutsen that the relatively small environment and pressure around Bodo/Glimt isn’t ideal preparation for taking the next step.
The opposing argument would be that Knutsen got the absolute best out of all those players and is worthy of landing a big job himself.
That’s something for Rangers to work through in an attempt to decide whether Knutsen is the right man to improve the squad, or whether Ibrox would be too big for him.
