Highly-rated Bodo/Glimt coach Kjetil Knutsen has reaffirmed his commitment to the Norwegian side amid fan conversations surrounding the Rangers manager’s job.
Speaking after his Bodo/Glimt side surrendered their Eliteserien title to rivals Molde, the manager insists his focus is purely on the Norwegian club.
This comes after plenty of Rangers fans have been discussing the potential for the Norwegian coach to replace Giovanni van Bronckhorst with the manager linked to several jobs around Europe.
“Firstly, I have Morten Wivestad as my agent,” said Knutsen.
“I have been clear that now I stand with my head in a pressure cooker, and things that are outside Bodø/Glimt I am completely uninterested in.
“I do not want any enquiries, and I do not answer any telephone calls. I only have 100 per cent focus on Bodø/Glimt.”
Kjetil Knutsen focused on Bodo/Glimt amid Rangers manager talk
Whilst Giovanni van Bronckhorst remains the Ibrox boss, fans are calling for the Dutchman’s head after his woeful Scottish Premiership record continued with a 1-1 draw against St Mirren over the weekend.
That result leaves Rangers nine points behind Celtic heading into the World Cup break and given the club’s unceremonious post-winter break collapse in the league last season, fans don’t exactly have faith the Dutchman can turn things around.
That means that whether Van Bronckhorst likes it or not, and whether the board want to sack him or not, Rangers fans are already scouting the world of football for the man to replace him.
One such man is Norwegian manager Kjetil Knutsen, who has earned notoriety for his high-energy arctic circle outfit Bodo/Glimt who’ve impressed in Europe as of late.
After joining the Eliteserien side in 2018, Knutsen guided the club to two back-to-back Norwegian top flight title in 2020 and 2021.
From here the coach – who won three Eliteserien Manger of the Year awards in a row – took his charges into Europe and the Europa Conference League where they progressed from their group, even beating Roma 6-1.
Knocking out Celtic in the knockout stages, Knutsen has already got the better of Ange Postecoglou whilst they also knocked out AZ Alkmaar before eventually succumbing to winners AS Roma in the quarters.
This season, things haven’t gone quite to plan for Kjetil Knutsen and Bodo/Glimt even if they qualified for the Europa Conference League knockouts after qualifying for the Europa League.
They finished behind Arsenal and PSV Eindhoven in their group and will play Lech Poznan in the ECL.
Meanwhile, one reported summer Ibrox target could be on the move to the tune of £8m this summer.
