Former Eintracht Frankfurt boss and one-time Real Madrid target Oliver Glasner is reportedly keen on the Rangers job as the Scottish Premiership champions step up their pursuit of a new manager.
If that 3-1 home defeat against Aberdeen on Saturday was Rangers hitting rock bottom, then their calamitous Europa League reverse away to Aris Limassol four days later was the footballing equivalent of taking a power drill to the scorched, radiated earth and digging your way into the catacombs.
The Rangers fanbase may have thought things couldn’t get any worse after that Aberdeen hammering. Well, they were certainly proven wrong in Cyprus, Rangers producing a truly shocking display which had some supporters feeling that the only recourse is to rip everything up and start again from the very bottom.
If anyone can lift Rangers out of their malaise, however, it may well be Oliver Glasner.
Oliver Glasner keen on Rangers job
The Daily Record reports that the unattached 49-year-old has ‘thrown his hat into the ring’, encouraging his representatives to ‘officially register an interest’.
Glasner may have left it a little late. The Record add that the final round of interviews are set to take place, with Frank Lampard and ex-Ger Kevin Muscat making it to ‘judge’s houses’.
But the sudden and unexpected opportunity to hire a coach with Glasner’s track record – he boasts arguably the finest CV of any candidate except perhaps ex-Club Brugge boss Philippe Clement – should have Lampard and Muscat glancing nervously over their shoulders.
Glasner’s Frankfurt beat Rangers in Europea League final
Glasner, of course, victorious as Frankfurt broke Rangers hearts in the Europa League final back in 2022. According to BILD, the softly-spoken Austrian held talks with Tottenham Hotspur last year too, while also catching the eye of Real Madrid.
Glasner, who also took LASK Linz to second in the Austrian top-flight and guided Wolfsburg into the Champions League, would have been simply unattainable for Rangers 12 months ago – when they hired Mick Beale to replace Giovanni van Bronckhorst – but his reputation appears to have been diminished somewhat after a disappointing end to his Frankfurt tenure in May.
