Next Rangers manager is facing major impediment - 'I think the task is bigger now'

There is one major impediment identified by Alex McLeish as to the potential for the Rangers next manager could follow his blueprint for arriving during a campaign and landing silverware – insufficient raw materials.

McLeish won the first five trophies realistically available to him when he took up the reins from Dick Advocaat at the Govan club in December 2001 as Celtic were then running away with the title. He snared a cup double before following that up with a treble but he doesn’t overstate his role in a turnaround that will be demanded from Michael Beale’s successor. Philippe Clement is the front-runner to become Rangers third manager inside a year in which McLeish believes recruitment has created major issues for whoever takes charge, with questions over whether the club will derive the expected returns on the £14million spent on Cyriel Dessers, Sam Lammers, Danilo and Jose Cifuentes.

“I felt I was absolutely ready for the Rangers job then, I had so much energy at that time,” McLeish said. “I felt I could really work with those players Dick Advocaat was leaving me – all those world-class players … for me, that was a man-management job. Dick said to me: ‘Alex, it’s your turn. I’m tired. They don’t listen to me anymore.’ The raw material was there, so it was about man-managing the players. I couldn’t go to Ronald De Boer or Barry Ferguson and tell them to play like this or that. It was about making sure they could express themselves and play to their best levels.

“I think the task is bigger now. It doesn’t look as if recruitment has worked. [Ange] Postecoglou [at Celtic two years ago] brought in a formula but he had quick players. He signed players who could burst through the backline and, soon enough, you could see what he wanted to do. If you compare Rangers’ recruitment to Celtic’s recruitment, it’s not been at the same level. The dynamism isn’t there.

Alex McLeish promotes Viaplay’s live and exclusive coverage of Spain v Scotland and France v Scotland.

‘Looking at the Old Firm game, for example, you have two rookie Celtic players in central defence. I think even Brendan [Rodgers] alluded to that. Rangers didn’t lay a glove on them. Imagine what [Ally] McCoist and [Mark] Hateley would have done, or De Boer and Mikey Mols, or big Dado [Prso]. These guys would have sniffed it out in a moment and prepared them for that.

‘And if there’s not the cash there for recruitment … it’s easy to say change the whole team, but it’s a fortune to do that nowadays. The job [of the next Rangers manager] would be whether he could get the best out of these guys who have been identified through the data or whatever. It would be one of his tasks for him to get what we were supposed to see from them – to the levels Rangers [need].”

Clement remains the warm favourite to replace Beale at the Ibrox helm, with some bookmakers suspending the betting on him being appointed by Rangers. The 49-year-old has been out of work since being sacked by Monaco in the summer and has previous title-winning experience in his homeland with both Genk and Club Brugge.

Alex McLeish was promoting Viaplay’s live and exclusive coverage of Spain v Scotland. Viaplay is available to stream from viaplay.com or via your TV provider on Sky, Virgin TV and Amazon Prime as an add-on subscription.