Rangers sacked Pedro Caixinha on Thursday and club legend Derek Johnstone sees the former Crystal Palace manager as the ideal appointment.
It appears that there are five standout candidates for the vacant managerial position at Rangers. According to the Daily Record, Aberdeen manager Derek McInnes is preferred replacement for the now dismissed Pedro Caixinha.
Tommy Wright of St Johnstone is another name in the frame, however, as is David Moyes, Alex McLeish and Northern Ireland’s miracle-working manager Michael O’Neill.
Any suggestions that Sam Allardyce could be tempted out of retirement to embark on one of his trademark ship-steadying routines at Ibrox, then, have been somewhat lost amongst the noise. Though, in the eyes of Rangers legend Derek Johnstone, Allardyce is a name that stands out above the rest.
“They can’t go for someone who has been working in South America or the Middle East,” Johnstone told the Evening Times in a less-than-subtle dig at the ill-fated appointment of former Santos Laguna and Al-Gharafa manager Caixinha.
“They have got to look nearer to home. I’m not saying that is a Scotsman, but they need a British manager. Someone like Sam Allardyce would be a great choice for Rangers and he is someone that gets the best out of players.
“He has never been with a club like Rangers and he is the type of manager that Rangers need. He knows a player and he knows the game.”
Allardyce stunningly bid farewell to Crystal Palace in May just days after leading The Eagles to Premier League survival, indicating that he planned to bring an end to 26 years in management. And the 62-year-old insisted to talkSPORT back in July that he would only return to the game in an international role, having grown a little weary of jumping into save a side in crisis.
“If another club says, ‘can you come and save us’, I don’t think that’s for me now,” Allardyce said.
Fortunately, with Allardyce appearing unlikely, Rangers already appear to have drawn up a list of alternative candidates.
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