Rangers manager ‘target’ makes Ibrox pitch for job?

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Ibrox Noise

·5 November 2024

Rangers manager ‘target’ makes Ibrox pitch for job?

With Rangers manager Philippe Clement rather clinging to his job by his fingernails right now, fans have understandably looked at who could potentially replace him if he moves on from Govan.

Naturally that will require his resignation given the club cannot afford to fire him, but this is splitting hairs; fans are still focused on the possible replacements.

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We’ve shown that Kevin Muscat is the strong preference, with Rino Gattuso, Steven Gerrard and Derek McInnes all vying for favour as well, and it’s the latter who has hinted that on top of completing his work at Rugby Park, he wants to manage Scotland one day but ‘has other things he wants to do as well’.

The Killie boss has been long-linked with Rangers and of course turned the club down some years ago in the eleventh hour when he realised he wasn’t ready to take on the big job he wanted. He was close to taking it, but rightly realised he wasn’t a mature or experienced enough manager to handle the pressures at Ibrox, and pulled out.

That has changed.

He has shone at Killie, and got them into Europe, and has started to restore some form this season after a tough start combining Europe with domestic.

He said:

“I’ve obviously got certain things I want to do. I’m still — hopefully it comes across — as enthusiastic as when I started the job. I feel as if I’ve got the benefit of my experience as a manager. And of course, I’m loving my job here. I think you’ve just got to deal with what’s in front of you — and what’s in front of us is trying to keep the whole thing going here.”

On Scotland specifically:

“But if you could write a career for yourself then it would involve managing Scotland — of course it would. I think we’ve got a great set of players with Scotland and we have got a good manager who has done so well in recent times. There’s still a lot of optimism surrounding the Scotland job.”

But with that nod to Ibrox:

“And it’s something I would like to do, of course I would. But there’s also other things I want to do as well — and there’s still stuff to do here at Rugby Park with Kilmarnock.”

McInnes harbours ambitions of managing Scotland, but as he said it himself, he now has the experience (that he didn’t have some years ago) as a boss, and hints that there are ‘other things’ he wants to do.

And we would highly suggest that means Rangers.

Whether he means now, or in the future…