Glasgow Rangers are now looking for a new manager having parted company with Mark Warburton.
A report in the Daily Record has suggested that Mark Warburton had wanted to bring Aberdeen star Jonny Hayes to Rangers during the January transfer window but was unable to land the 29-year-old.
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Hayes has enjoyed an excellent season with the Dons in the Scottish Premiership, having scored five and contributed six assists to help Derek McInnes’ men sit above the Gers in the table.
Aberdeen’s Jonny Hayes
Unsurprisingly, that form attracted attention from elsewhere with BBC Sport reporting that Cardiff City had three bids turned down for the winger last month.
But the Bluebirds were not the only club that were interested, as it appears that Warburton wanted to bring the Irishman to Ibrox, and his inability to do so may have helped pave the way for his departure which was announced last week, according to the Record.
The Record suggests that Hayes would have cost the Light Blues around £1 million, but the management team were confident that he would have been an upgrade on Michael O’Halloran, who has not exactly captured the imagination since arriving last year.
Mark Warburton
However, the board appear to have been less than convinced about going after Hayes or another Warburton target Reece Oxford, who was made available by West Ham for loan (via Record), perhaps due to the struggles that the signings the club made in the summer have endured.
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And if that was the case and the board were reluctant to back Warburton in the window, then that could perhaps be looked back upon as the moment that the writing began to find its way onto the wall for the 54-year-old’s time at Ibrox.
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