Scottish Premiership outfit, Rangers, under the tutelage of Pedro Caixinha, never looked promising and an exit for the Portuguese always lingered. Caixinha was appointed as the manager of the Glasgow based club after the departure of Mark Warburton, and the primary objectives he was entrusted with were to the close the gap between Rangers and their arch-rivals, Celtic, and to erect a strong footing in the Scottish top division.
However, the Portuguese failed to do the same and a few days ago, he was sacked from his post after the 1-1 draw with Kilmarnock in the Scottish Premiership fixtures. His stewardship seemed questionable, more often than not, for Rangers’ exit from the Europa League at the hands of Luxembourg minnows, Progres Niederkorn, was undoubtedly a massive disappointment and humiliation. There was an apparent lack of top-notch tactical nous during his reign.
Further, while he was the manager, the Light Blues lost all of the three Old Firm derbies against the Celts and sheer mediocrity in the domestic competitions hardly helped him in bolstering his intrinsic value. His man-managing skills had also become a subject of criticism and no wonder why he was eventually shown the exit door. While Graeme Murty has been handed the role of the interim manager, the search for a permanent manager continues.
Murty has guided the Teddy Bears to two consecutive wins, which comprised of a 1-3 win against Heart of Midlothian and a 3-0 win over Partick Thistle on Saturday, but as per one of the latest reports put forth by The Herald, former Sunderland boss, Gus Poyet, is perceived to have expressed his desire to manage Rangers. Poyet is one of the high-profile names to have surfaced lately, after the likes of Alan Pardew and Derek McInnes have been linked to the club.
The 49-year-old is currently out of work after having resigned as the Shanghai Shenhua boss in September and is obviously in the hunt to find a new endeavour for him. He had managed Sunderland in the Premier League and prior to that, he had managed Brighton & Hove Albion and clinched the League One title with them. After his tenure with the Black Cats, he navigated AEK Athens and Betis for short spells, before venturing into the Chinese soil.
Rangers are in a dire need of a manager who possesses a decent stature to take the club forward in the right direction and someone like Poyet does have the experience to do the needful. However, the caveat is that he has no experience of managing Scottish football, and that should be a point to ponder upon. Nonetheless, it would be interesting to see whether the deal to sign him materializes from here on.
