Former Celtic captain Scott Brown will be returning to Ibrox as manager of Ayr United – but he’ll be taking ex-Rangers star Steven Whittaker with him.
The Gers have been drawn against Ayr United at Ibrox in the fifth round of the Scottish Cup with the Honest Men now announcing Scott Brown as manager.
The former Celtic skipper is tasked with hauling Ayr away from relegation first and foremost with Steven Whittaker drafted in as his assistant.
But the story also has a subplot with Scott Brown now officially set to lead Ayr United against Rangers on the weekend of 10th February.
Steven Whittaker joins Scott Brown at Ayr United
Ibrox fans are obviously familiar with Scott Brown from his time at Rangers, but the controversial return of Steven Whittaker is also worth noting.
The former Rangers right-back made 199 appearances for the club over five years after joining from Hibs in a reported £2m deal.
Lifting eight trophies with Rangers, including three Scottish Premiership titles, the right-back also famously scored a wonderful individual goal against Sporting Lisbon on the run to the UEFA Cup Final in Manchester in 2008.
But the right-back’s success-laden time at the club ended in controversy when Whittaker, alongside now Hearts manager Steven Naismith, called an infamous press conference in the wake of the club’s financial implosion in 2012.
Claiming that Rangers “no longer exists in its original form”, the two were looking out for their own best interests but it’s the manner in which they left that will forever rankle with fans.
Rangers must handle Scottish Cup banana skin
It means that the boos which will likely ring out around Ibrox when Ayr United come to town won’t just be reserved for Scott Brown.
Steven Whittaker has played his own boogeyman role at Ibrox and he’ll be expecting both barrels from a Rangers support which rarely forgives and never forgets.
Scott Brown has been trying, and not really succeeding, to cut his teeth in management and this will effectively be the former Scotland captain’s third coaching role.
Starting out as Stephen Glass’s assistant at Aberdeen, Brown also spent time in charge of Fleetwood Town south of the border where Whittaker was also his assistant.
It’s there for Rangers to go and take out their ill-feeling towards Scott Brown against Ayr United but dare slip up and we’ll probably never, ever live it down.
