Former Trabzonspor and Dinamo Zagreb coach Nenad Bjelica insists he did not hold talks with Rangers and was ‘never a candidate’ to take Mick Beale’s job at the Scottish Premiership giants.
It was certainly a story which appeared out of nowhere. A bolt straight from Rangers-shirt blue.
Only a couple of days before the confirmation of Philippe Clement’s appointment, Nenad Bjelica’s name was suddenly thrown into the frame by the British press, the Croatian on the lookout for a fresh start and a new challenge following his sacking by Turkish Super Lig outfit Trabzonspor.
Rangers were linked with Nenad Bjelica hire
Turkish reporter Gokturk Kagan, unimpressed by the job Bjelica did on the banks of the Black Sea, suggested that Bjelica’s reputation was being championed by his admirers back home. Though the man himself is keen to point out that those Rangers links did not emerge out of Croatia but from far closer to Ibrox.
“The story of Rangers’ interest was started not by Croatian journalists, but by a British journalist. I don’t even know from which source he got the information and why he wrote it,” a nonplussed Bjelica now tells Fotospor.
“I’ve never been a candidate to coach Rangers. I can honestly say that. No one contacted me.”
A two-time Croatian league champion at Dinamo Zagreb, Bjelica’s style of play – ‘more rugby than football’ to quote Kagan – and his questionable approach to man-management soon brought about his end at Trabzonspor. The 52-year-old was sacked after just six months and 16 games in charge.
Rangers choose Philippe Clement
Clement, meanwhile, fought off competition from a number of genuine, alternative targets.
Graeme Souness, the Ibrox icon who played a role in helping choose Mick Beale’s successor, revealed to talkSPORT last week that Frank Lampard was keen to take over at the Glasgow giants before Rangers went the way of the former Club Brugge and Monaco boss.
“There was the two outstanding candidates; Frank and Philippe,” Souness said (26 October, 11am). “The final say wasn’t with me.
“For me, Frank had the edge because of this; Frank, I think, has still got a great deal to offer. Taking the Chelsea job when he did was always going to be very, very difficult. The Everton job is a basket case. And have they improved since Frank left? Not a bit.
“So, I wouldn’t be too critical of Frank. The thing that encouraged me about Frank is that he wanted to do it. He doesn’t need the money. He wants to be a successful manager. And he fancied the Rangers job.”
