Dick Advocaat led Rangers to five trophies in his first two seasons at Ibrox – and will be out of a job come Tuesday.
With Dick Advocaat confirming that he will step down as Holland manager next week, and Rangers still on the lookout for a coach to replace Pedro Caixinha, it would not be a surprise to see the veteran Dutchman linked with a return to Ibrox.
So far, however, Advocaat’s name has been largely absent from the gossip columns and the odds lists. Though when asked whether the 70-year-old would consider a second spell in charge of Rangers, Advocaat’s response gave little away.
“I still have until Tuesday,” he said, referring to his final game in charge of Oranje against Romania next week, per the Evening Standard.
With Advocaat hailing Aberdeen boss Derek McInnes, understood to be Rangers’ first choice per Sky Sports, it appears that the former Sunderland boss is unlikely to be in the frame – particularly with the club’s board understood to be prioritising a British manager.
And while Advocaat knows the club and remains one of the most respected tacticians around, Rangers are right to refuse the temptation to give one of the oldest coaches around a call.
Yesterday’s man
Advocaat rightly remains a legend at Ibrox after leading Rangers to a domestic treble in a stunning debut season in 1998/99. The year after, The Gers cruised to the title with a 21 point winning margin before lifting the Scottish Cup.
Such remarkable achievements could not be maintained, however, with Martin O’Neil’s Celtic roaring back the next season and Advocaat was sacked in December 2001. And his revered status at the club was put under severe strain when Rangers entered bankruptcy in 2012 – thanks in part to his own heavy spending.
Nonetheless, Rangers need a coach with fresh ideas, a fighter like McInnes. Advocaat, in recent years, has come to be seen as yesterday’s man – a firefighter who takes over a club or country in crisis rather than leads them into a new era.
If Rangers want to build for the future, hiring a 70-year-old from the club’s distant past would not make a whole lot of sense.
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