Rangers search for a new manager went up a notch or two when the San Francisco 49ers got involved with the process.
There always looked to be a reason why Philippe Clement kept his job for so long and when the news of the 49ers Enterprises takeover broke, it became pretty obvious.
Patrick Stewart didn’t want to appoint a permanent Rangers manager before the deal was completed, it didn’t help that there was no subject matter expert pulling the strings at Ibrox either.
The appointment of Kevin Thelwell as sporting director changes that, as does having a helping hand from Gretar Steinsson, the 49ers own technical director for their football department.
Rangers look for fresh start in manager search
Without them, there is every chance that the easy option would have been to bring Steven Gerrard back to Rangers, however, that now looks increasingly unlikely.
Providing an update on the search in the Rangers Review, Chris Jack has made the sort of claim that almost immediately rules out two of the favourites for the job:
“It is understood that the appointment will be a manager with no previous involvement with Rangers. The new era will be a new beginning.”
Who should be the favourite for Rangers job now?
If this is true, Gerrard is out of the running, as is Kevin Muscat, someone who Craig Moore still feels should have got the job ahead of Philippe Clement and Michael Beale.
How much his one season as a player restricts his chances of being considered this time around remains to be seen, but he does have the most impressive CV of any of the names mentioned.
The Aussie might not have the same level of clubs or experience in top five leagues, however, he can point to a proven style of play and title success in three different countries.
It’s one thing saying what your philosophy is, it is another proving that you can get this message across on the training ground and get players to implement it on a match day.
