Norwich City’s Alex Neil has played down rumours linking him with Rangers.
Norwich City manager Alex Neil
Norwich City boss Alex Neil has told the Norwich Evening News that there is no substance to any links surrounding a move to Rangers.
Rangers saw manager Mark Warburton leave the club last month in what was something of a surprise, and are now searching for a new boss.
Graeme Murty has taken charge of the club on an interim basis, and has now been in the dugout for five games, the last of which was a 6-0 Scottish Cup win over Hamilton on Saturday afternoon.
However, youth coach Murty looks unlikely to land the job on a full-time basis, with a host of managers being linked with the post – most recently, little-known Portuguese boss Pedro Caixinha.
Last week though, an intriguing link with Norwich City boss Alex Neil emerged, with the Scot becoming the odds-on favourite in midweek.
Neil, 35, starred as manager of Hamilton Academical before earning a 2015 move to Norwich City, and he guided the Canaries to the Premier League in just a matter of months.
Norwich did suffer relegation from the Premier League last season though, and Neil has failed to get the club challenging for immediate promotion again, with Saturday’s 5-1 defeat at Sheffield Wednesday all but ending their slim play-off hopes.
Norwich manager Alex Neil
Some fans have been falling for Neil to go, and those supporters will have been delighted when he became the hot favourite for the Rangers job – but he has now played that link down.
Speaking to the Norwich Evening News, Neil claimed that the links were just speculation and he has had no contact from Rangers about a move to Ibrox, claiming he has no interest in what goes on in their search for a manager.
“Speculation, as usual,” said Neil. “The simple fact is I have had absolutely no contact and heard nothing from no-one. I was as much surprised as anyone else. I have no intention of going anywhere. I have a big job ahead of me at Norwich and I am hoping I can get us into a position to finish this season well, first and foremost, and I am really hopeful for the future with some of the young players coming through. My sole intentions are on that.”
“It is probably someone I know who has stuck a £5 on it. I honestly don’t know. I’ll be honest for me it is irrelevant. It doesn’t bother me. I don’t talk about speculation in regard to my players and it is the same thing here. That is all it is. Whatever happens at Rangers, will happen. The vast majority of rumours that happen in football most of them have no basis to them. It is just somebody has made it up somewhere. This is just another one that someone has made up. I didn’t spend any time thinking about it. I got a lot of texts and a lot of phone calls, which is just normal. I have no interest in what happens at Rangers. I am focused on Norwich,” he added.
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