McCall insists he is still the man to lead Rangers

McCall insists he has what it takes to lead Rangers again next season. Picture: SNS

As the Ibrox club come to terms with the reality of another season in the Championship, McCall will hold talks with the board of directors in the next 48 hours.

His spell as interim manager came to an end following yesterday’s 3-0 defeat by Motherwell at Fir Park, to complete a 6-1 aggregate loss in the battle to claim the remaining place in the top flight.

But McCall, who won seven and lost four of his 17 games in charge following his appointment in March, is adamant he has the qualities required to reshape the Rangers squad.

“I knew it was a big gig when I came in,” said McCall. “But I don’t think people would have thought then that we would have come to the final game of the season. I was pleased with that but disappointed with the outcome today.

“It’s for the club to decide on whether I stay as manager. I think the majority of people know I don’t like talking about myself or what I’ve done or what I can do.

“But I think my three biggest strengths as a manager and coach are recruiting people, as I did when I was at Motherwell, getting the best out of people and improving people.

“That’s certainly three things Rangers will need next season. Recruitment of players is going to be huge.

“Alan Stubbs brought a fantastic team in at Hibs. Look at last season and he bought five new players in in January.

“Of course I want to carry on as manager. It has been an honour and a privilege to do the job. Now I’ve been in there, I feel there are still good players at the club. There are some good young players at the club.

“It’s going to be a big rebuilding job but it’s not out of the realms of possibility that whoever is Rangers manager next season will be looking at promotion. I don’t think there is any doubt about that.

“I will possibly know within the next few days if I’ve got the job. We will have a meeting and then take it from there.”

Rangers have ten players out of contract this summer and McCall believes the size of overhaul required is a positive for the club.

“I do think sometimes that can be a good thing, to bring eight or nine of your own players in,” he added.

“I think people can remember me at Motherwell when we finished second in the league and lost seven first-team players. The year after that we finished with 70 points and finished second.

“We have ten out of contract, maybe one or two will get new ones, and there is a big rebuilding job to be done. There is no doubt about that. It’s a good opportunity for whoever is manager. He can remould the group and get the spirit in that he wants it to be.

“Players would like to come to Rangers, but if they came up from England then maybe they would like us to be in the Premiership. So we had compiled two lists of targets, one if we got promoted and one if we did not.

“There are players who wouldn’t want to drop a division and also it wouldn’t be as rewarding financially. But whoever gets the job, it is an exciting prospect and a challenge to relish because you don’t often get such an opportunity to come into this football club.

“Not only are there a lot of players out of contract, some are big earners, so there is a chance to bring good quality players to the club.

“They need to get a desire and togetherness back at the club. We might not have been great all season, we may have had flaws since I have come in, especially defensively, but they managed to galvanise themselves and get to a stage where many people didn‘t think we would get to. At the end we have fallen short.”