Former Rangers midfielder Andy Halliday believes Ipswich Town’s former Manchester United coach Kieran McKenna should be in contention to replace Mick Beale at Ibrox.
You’d certainly have to go a long way to find a head coach with a better track record over the last six months or so.
Second in the Championship with eight wins from ten games, successive promotions are not out of the question for a Ipswich Town who haven’t graced the Premier League stage in over two decades. In fact, across their last 25 games in league football, Kieran McKenna’s unstoppable Tractor Boys have been on the winning side on 21 occasions, with an overall aggregate score of 66-15.
A quite ‘astonishing’ return, as the popular Second Tier podcast put it.
Such a remarkable return, Halliday tells Clyde Superscoreboard, is reason enough for Rangers to look south of the border and bring a one-time Manchester United assistant from the Old Farm to the Old Firm.
Rangers urged to consider Ipswich Town boss
“Every single (manager you hire) is a risk. You can only tell if they are a success by the time they leave the club,” Halliday, who made over 150 Rangers appearances from 2015 to 2020, argues.
“Whoever it may be, they will be fully backed by the supporters and the players. And hopefully it’s a success. Always it’s fair to say some names are more exciting than others. One that has not been mentioned is Kieran McKenna, with the job he is doing at Ipswich this season.
“He’s another name I would like to see linked with the job.”
Rangers’ managerial search ongoing
Rangers appear to be considering a wide range of options, reports linking the Glasgow giants with coaches based in Japan, Norway, and the Netherlands, not to mention Birmingham and Preston far closer to home.
The Sun’s Alan Nixon believes that Pascal Jansen – second in the Eredivisie with AZ Alkmaar – is likely to talk to the Rangers board, along with the long-serving Bodo/Glimt boss Kjetil Knutsen.
