Gary Rowett admits he held talks with the Rangers bosses after leaving Birmingham City only to be pipped to the Scottish Premiership post by Pedro Caixinha.
Knowing what they know now, you could hardly blame the Ibrox supporters for wishing they could turn back the clock and do something, anything, to stop Pedro Caixinha putting pen to paper and signing that contract.
By the time the madcap manager was fired, after just seven months in the job, Paul Le Guen had competition for the title of Rangers’ worst manager of modern times.
Caixinha presided over a record 5-1 home defeat to Celtic, a first home loss by Aberdeen in a quarter of a century, that humiliating European exit to Progres Niederkorn, and a Hampden semi-final reverse at the hands of Motherwell.
And that’s without mentioning a string of disastrous signings, the struggles of Eduardo Herrera and co symbolising Caixinha’s 229-day reign.
Gary Rowett held talks with Rangers
Would Gary Rowett have enjoyed more success had he got the gig instead? It’s hard to imagine that a man who entered Rangers’ thinking after a fine spell at Birmingham City would have brought such drama with him north of the border, Rowett a coach who prefers to let his tactics do the talking.
“Yeah, I think I got down to the last two (with) Caixinha,” Rowett recalls, speaking to talkSPORT (13 December, 12pm).
“I remember meeting them (the Rangers bosses) and thinking; ‘Wow, you can’t turn this down! 52,000 season ticket holders…
“It would have been an incredible experience. But he (Caixinha) got the job and I don’t think he did particularly well. I think I was relatively close.
“I certainly had the opportunity to meet them after leaving Birmingham, but it wasn’t to be.”
Pedro Caixinha lasted just seven months
Caixinha has taken on five different jobs since leaving Rangers six years ago. He is now in charge of Red Bull Bragantino in Brazil. 49-year-old Rowett, meanwhile, bounced back from an ill-fated spell at Stoke City by turning Millwall into play-off dark horses, constructing a side far greater than the sum of it’s parts at The Den.
Rowett lost his job in October, however, and remains without a club.
