Next Rangers manager: Candidates to land Ibrox hotseat as former players installed as favourites, ex-Chelsea boss among frontrunners

Following the sacking of Michael Beale as Rangers manager, the search is on to replace the Englishman at Ibrox.

Kevin Muscat is the early favourite to replace Michael Beale as Rangers manager.

Chairman John Bennett and chief executive James Bisgrove have put Steven Davis in temporary charge while they look for their new manager, and The Scotsman understands that the board will be scrupulous in their search, keen to avoid another tenure of failure.

Rangers are likely to be inundated with applications and all manner of names with be linked to the job. The early favourite with the bookmakers is Yokohama F Marinos manager Kevin Muscat, who spent the 2002/03 season as a player at Ibrox. The 50-year-old Australian – currently at the Japanese club where Celtic took Ange Postecoglou from – was linked with the vacancy last time around and has been impressive during his time in the J-League. He is rated around the 5/2 mark to become next manager.

Current Kilmarnock manager and another former player in Derek McInnes is a surprise second favourite at 7/1 – he was strongly fancied to take the position in 2017, instead opting to remain at Aberdeen – while ex-Chelsea manager Graham Potter, currently out of work, is the third favourite at 8/1.

Other early names in the running include Ralph Hasenhuttl, Wayne Rooney, John Eustace, Kjetil Knutsen, Scott Parker, Jesse Marsch and Jon Dahl Tomasson. Expect more names to be added to the mix in the coming days.