The bulk of the Rangers support finally got their wish on Sunday night as Russell Martin was dismissed. The statement from the club's owners on Monday acknowledged they had got the appointment of Martin wrong, but it appears no further heads will roll, despite many fans clamouring for chief executive Patrick Stewart and sporting director Kevin Thelwell to go as well. The return of Steven Gerrard is an option that excites many, but certainly not all, fans.
The bulk of the Rangers support finally got their wish on Sunday night as Russell Martin was dismissed.
You have to imagine, given the way things had been going, a list of potential successors was already being drawn up, so the process of appointing the next manager should be well under way.
The statement from the club's owners on Monday acknowledged they had got the appointment of Martin wrong, but it appears no further heads will roll, despite many fans clamouring for chief executive Patrick Stewart and sporting director Kevin Thelwell to go as well.
Collectively now the board must bring in a manager who can be a unifying figure for the supporters and get the best out of a group of players who have massively underperformed this season.
The return of Steven Gerrard is an option that excites many, but certainly not all, fans. His former assistant Gary McAllister helped fan the flames of speculation over such a move by answering "never say never" in an interview on Monday.
Gerrard - who has admitted to "unfinished business" in management as Rangers await confirmation he is keen to return to the club - would tick a lot of boxes.
He would instantly command respect in the dressing room and as the man who stopped Celtic's bid for 10 in a row he has shown he has what it takes to put together a winning team.
However, Gerrard's subsequent moves to Aston Villa and Al-Ettifaq were less successful so those questioning whether he would be the right man for Rangers second time around have plenty ammunition.
Rangers could have gone and got Derek McInnes after sacking Philippe Clement. Now such an appointment would be way more problematic.
Again, McInnes would make a lot of sense for a lot of reasons - his understanding of the club and of Scottish football and an ability to take charge of a dressing room and mould a successful unit.
But he is part of a Hearts set-up that is clearly going places and it is difficult to see McInnes leaving having committed to an exciting new project at Tynecastle.
Sean Dyche is another who is short odds to take over from Martin. He worked with Kevin Thelwell at Everton where he steadied a ship that was in serious trouble, making them much more difficult to beat, a quality he is renowned for.
He overachieved at Burnley, though expectations there are vastly different from those at Ibrox.
There are a number of other names flying around. In hindsight, Barry Ferguson and his team would have been a significantly better appointment than Martin had they been given a permanent gig but it seems unlikely the new owners will revert to them.
Kevin Muscat has rightly been part of the discussion over recent vacancies at Ibrox having enjoyed success in Australia, Japan and China, while Gary O'Neil has English Premier League experience and Danny Rohl is highly rated, though another young and relatively inexperienced coach may be considered too much of a gamble.
This is a massive appointment for Rangers and whoever comes in has a huge job on his hands to "turn the tanker".
Category: General Sports
