Next Rangers manager favourites revealed with Steven Gerrard neck-and-neck with European boss to lead Ibrox revolution
RANGERS are limping towards the season's finish line with plenty of focus already on what lies ahead.
One of the biggest decisions approaching will be the appointment of the club's next manager.
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Steven Gerrard led Rangers to their last league title in 2021
Credit: Getty
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Marco Rose is also in the frame
Credit: AP
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Barry Ferguson's chances of the job appear to be slipping
Credit: PA
It's been a dire campaign for Rangers who trail newly crowned champions Celtic by 17 points and will finish without any silverware.
A turbulent season saw Philippe Clement axed as manager with Barry Ferguson overseeing things on an interim basis.
While the Ibrox legend initially seemed to get a tune out of the players, it's now five games without a win for the Gers.
Ferguson himself didn't hold back in his assessment of the 2-2 draw at St Mirren as he blasted 'what's the point' in relation to players not listening to his instructions.
The majority of Gers fans are already looking to next season, one they hope will bring the dawn of a brighter era for the club.
The US takeover led by health tycoon Andrew Cavenagh and 49ers Enterprises is close to completion.
Some of the other pieces are falling into place too with Kevin Thelwell confirmed as the new Rangers sporting director.
The appointment that ultimately will capture the attention, however, will be the next manager.
Several contenders have emerged since Clement's sacking back in February.
But now it appears two clear front-runners have emerged in the eyes of the bookies.
St Mirren supremo Jim Gillespie reveals why he turned down chance to be Rangers chief executive
Two bosses are priced at evens with bet365 - one of those is the former Rangers manager Steven Gerrard.
The 44-year old was previously in charge at Ibrox between 2018 and 2021, leading the Gers to the Scottish Premiership title just months before quitting to join Aston Villa.
He's out of work after leaving Saudi club Al-Ettifaq earlier this year.
The other manager also available at evens is Marco Rose.
The German, 48, is looking for his next challenge after being sacked by RB Leipzig last month.
Rose had spent two-and-a-half-years at the helm in Leipzig and won both the German Cup and Supercup as boss.
An underperforming campaign domestically and in Europe saw him axed just a matter of weeks ago.
Rose previously managed Red Bull Salzburg, Borussia Monchengladbach and Borussia Dortmund prior to taking the Leipzig role in 2022.
Next Rangers manager odds
*via bet365 on April 28
Steven Gerrard EVS
Marco Rose EVS
Rafa Benitez 14/1
Sean Dyche 16/1
Danny Rohl 16/1
Russell Martin 20/1
Jose Mourinho 20/1
Edin Terzic 25/1
Barry Ferguson 25/1
Daniel Farke 25/1
His connections to the Red Bull group - having managed in Salzburg and Leipzig - haven't been lost on onlookers' attention, especially with incoming Gers chief Thelwell having also worked for the group.
Rose could possibly have some convincing to do should he take over at Ibrox, however.
That's because he's previously spoken fondly about Celtic, and even donned a Hoops hat and scarf after leading his Salzburg side to victory at Parkhead in 2018.
The odds make Gerrard and Rose the clear front-runners for the Rangers vacancy.
Next up is Rafa Benitez, with the former Liverpool and Newcastle boss' odds much longer at 14/1.
Sean Dyche and Danny Rohl sit at 16/1 with Russell Martin and Jose Mourinho at 20/1.
Interim boss Barry Ferguson is at 25/1 to land the role full time.
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Marco Rose sported Celtic gear after managing Red Bull Salzburg at Parkhead
Credit: EPA
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For much of the past week, Davide Ancelotti, son of the great Carlo, was seen to be ahead in the race to be the new manager of bookmakers shortened him to odds-on. Word from Spain was that Ancelotti was first choice. On Thursday night, a source closer to the scene in Glasgow supported that Friday, the vibe appeared to flip in Russell Martin's favour. Caution is strongly advised - this thing is fluid and capable of change from night into day - but Martin looks to be a slight favourite right names have flitted across the landscape. Brian Priske, the former Feyenoord manager, Francesco Farioli, previously of Ajax. All respected characters. Steven Gerrard was heavily touted from the get-go but according to a source close to the decision making, Gerrard was never the frontrunner that people made him out to is the surprise. He interviewed brilliantly and, says a source, "gave the board an awful lot to think about".Ancelotti versus Martin. You'd struggle to find two candidates with such different back stories. Ancelotti has worked as a coach under his father at Bayern Munich, Napoli, Everton and Real Madrid. Martin (briefly a Rangers player in a torrid era) has been manager at MK Dons, Swansea and Southampton, who he took to the Premier League last season before losing his job in has had a safe, stable and apparently glamorous upbringing. Martin has spoken powerfully about the domestic violence of his youth and how it passed from his grandfather to his father, how his dad physically abused his mum and how his father lost the family home through his addiction to gambling."I look back at stuff that I found normal as a kid and now realise it was not normal," he told the Sunday Times in November would be a tougher sell to Rangers supporters. 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Change is everywhere at Rangers but can they get it right this time? From Alastair Johnston to Craig Whyte, from Malcolm Murray to Sandy Easdale and onwards to David Somers, Dave King, Douglas Park and beyond, Rangers are now on their 13th chairman since David Murray packed it in for good almost 16 years has taken the place of Fraser Thornton, who was only in the post since mid-December last year. Thornton, however, remains on a board that's now a decade and more, Rangers have gone through any amount of chairmen, chief executives and managers. There isn't enough wall space at Ibrox to picture them all. Not that many of them, in the eyes of Rangers people, deserve to be has been a constant part of Rangers over the past decade - and there's more change now. Profound change. A new chairman, a new vice-chairman, five new American board members coming in with three old ones moving out. Thelwell, starts on Thelwell and the new manager, plus the new manager's assistants, there will be a significant reimagining of the football operations department, a huge piece of work needing to be done on a failing sector. As one executive put it when talking about Auchenhowie, the Rangers training base: "The place needs to be gutted."There will also be a squad re-build, or an attempt at one. Conservatively, Rangers need five new first-team starters. Maybe six. Some might argue they need more. They need to find young gems for small money while establishing a functioning player trading model, which is the centrepiece of the new from bedding in a new board, a new sporting director, a new management team, a new playing squad, a new scouting and recruitment department and new thinking on the academy, it's, er, business as usual. There's at least continuity in the canteen staff - we think. The new forces at Ibrox, draped in the stars and stripes Cavenagh is said to be demure, unflashy and unlikely to be appearing in the media all that often, if at all. He is, says somebody who knows him and the world he's about to enter, "the complete opposite to Dave King. He won't want to do interviews, doesn't want the limelight, but he's a football nut and this is his baby."That same person says that there is no way that Cavenagh, Marathe or any of the other newcomers can fully grasp what they are getting themselves madness of football life in Glasgow has to be experienced. Nobody can teach you about the suffocating nature of it when things aren't going has no experience of owning a football club, but that's where the machinery of the 49ers Enterprises group comes in. Marathe has been described as the driving force of the project, the razzmatazz to Cavenagh's and hard nosed, Marathe has performed wonders as Leeds chairman since 49ers Enterprises took full control at Elland Road. There are certain parallels between the Leeds that Marathe moved into as chairman in the summer of 2023 and the Rangers he's now involved had just been relegated after three seasons in the Premier League. The feeling of failure at Rangers after the season just gone is and the 49ers' leadership team knew that their first major decision was in appointing a new manager. The same applies now. He hit the jackpot with Daniel Farke. How Rangers people will hope that he can repeat the trick in Leeds of 2023 had a disconnect between the fans and the club and that's been the case for a while now at years of iffy decision making by others at Elland Road, recruitment and player trading was a huge challenge for Marathe and the 49ers group and they nailed it. The team was Rutter, Crysencio Summerville. Luis Sinisterra and Archie Gray were sold for eyewatering money. Between July 2024 and May 2025 they brought in more than £130m in transfer came many of the driven characters who won the Championship in early May, some for chunky fees, others for nothing or half-nothing. It was incredibly shrewd management. Rangers folk are entitled to feel excited. Marathe and the 49ers group don't just talk a good game. They've put it out there for all to Leeds supporters are entitled to ask why key figures at their club are now getting themselves so involved in the affairs of another. How far does £20m go when Celtic continue to accumulate cash? The bottom line of £20m investment into football operations is only part of the new owners' commitment. Various figures are floating around as to how much they actually spent in acquiring their 51% shareholder, but "north of £60m" is how it was described by a source. Some have put it as high as £ the £20m that has drawn the most attention, though. Is that it? Or is there more to come? 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That's a Herculean years, though, a canny and influential figure at Parkhead used to ask what was happening "over the road" at Rangers and for many years - with the exception of one title-winning season - the answer was "not a lot".That's not the answer anymore.
