Never before has the expression dead man walking applied so aptly to a manager but, for now, Russell Martin remains in charge of Rangers.
The atmosphere at Ibrox last weekend was absolutely mutinous, with the Hearts supporters signing “you’re getting sacked in the morning”, only for the home fans, the ones who remained anyway, to join in.
That 2-0 defeat means the Light Blues have failed to win any of their first five league matches to start a season for the first time in 47 years and, should results go against them, they could be bottom of the Premiership by the time they’re next in action at Almondvale against Livingston on 28 September.
Before then, Hibernian will be the visitors for a League Cup quarter-final on Saturday and, having lost just one of nine outings since the start of August, David Gray’s team will more than fancy their chances of victory.
Should the Hibees book their place at Hampden, the 49ers could be holding an emergency meeting by Saturday night, so which manager should they be targeting, if a vacancy were to arise soon, which appears the most-likely outcome?
The leading candidates to be the next Rangers manager
Right now, the two front-runners to succeed Martin at Ibrox are Steven Gerrard and Sean Dyche.
Gerrard would certainly be the populist choice, having been in charge of the club for 192 matches between 2018 and 2021.
The Englishman only won one trophy in charge of the club, but it was quite an important one, collecting the club’s sole Premiership title since 2011, crucially stopping Celtic from becoming the first Scottish side in history to achieve ten in a row.
Of course, other Rangers managers have had more trophy-laden stints in Govan, but Gerrard took over a complete mess and transformed the club, leading them into the Europa League group stages in four successive seasons, winning 12 qualifiers, victories that were so crucial both from a financial standpoint, but also re-establishing the club at continental level.
Gerrard laid the foundations for successor Giovanni van Bronckhorst, who guided the club to the Europa League Final just six months after Gerrard’s departure, as well as back into the Champions League group stages, so he could be the right man for what the club needs right now.
Dyche meantime, may well be the safe option, epitomising the archetypal safe pair of hands.
He has been out of work since being sacked by Everton in January, but is vastly experienced, taking charge of 557 fixtures as a manager to date, of which 332 have come in the Premier League.
However, given that the clubs on his CV are Watford, Burnley and the aforementioned Everton, it is difficult to forecast how Dyche’s methods would translate if he was coaching a top side in a division, albeit does that apply to tenth-placed Rangers?
Nevertheless, there might be another available English coach who could prove to be the best fit for this vacancy.
Who the 49ers should target for Rangers
Back in the summer, it was reported that Gary O’Neil was among the many candidates on the Rangers managerial shortlist.
The 49ers, of course, opted for Martin instead, but should they reignite their interest in the 42-year-old?
As a player, the central midfielder made 539 senior club appearances, representing Portsmouth and Middlesbrough over 100 times, as well as stints with West Ham, Norwich, Bristol City, Queens Park Rangers, Bolton, Cardiff and Walsall.
He then began his coaching career in charge of Liverpool’s youth teams, similar to the path followed by Gerrard, before moving to Bournemouth to be the assistant manager to Jonathan Woodgate and then Scott Parker.
When the latter was sacked, following a 9-0 annihilation at Anfield, O’Neil became a senior head coach for the very first time, leading Bournemouth to 15th place, enjoying historic victories over Liverpool and Tottenham.
Thus, there was widespread outcry when he was dismissed the following summer, replaced by Andoni Iraola, but he soon found himself another crisis club, this time in the Midlands.
In August 2023, just a few days before the start of the season, Julen Lopetegui resigned as Wolverhampton Wanderers manager, with O’Neil thereby taking the reins at Molineux, similarly guiding them to safety, ending the season with a respectable 46 points.
He was sacked by Wolves last December, after yielding just one point from the first eight Premier League fixtures, but the 42-year-old has shown himself adept at coming in and making an immediate impact at a club, as the table below documents.
2022/23
34
1.06
2023/24
38
1.21
2024/25
16
0.56
Note: league games only
Of course, O’Neil’s record at Wolves last season was pretty miserable but, as we’re seeing now, with the Old Gold rock-bottom of the Premier League table, yet to pick up a point, perhaps he wasn’t the problem at Molineux.
Ahead of a meeting between the two clubs, Newcastle United manager Eddie Howe labelled his opposite number “tactically astute”.
Meantime, speaking on Match of the Day in February 2024, Shay Given praised the “phenomenal” job O’Neil did at Wolves, given the difficult circumstances under which he was forced to work. He was even tipped to be the next England boss by Micah Richards.
In an interview with the Guardian this summer, O’Neil himself stated that he believes his team can be very “adaptable”, adding that he is capable of getting a “whole group of players from different cultures to buy into my way”.
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Both of those sound like the exact opposite of what Martin is doing in Glasgow right now, so perhaps O’Neil might be the perfect man for the job, having excelled mid-season and in crises before.
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