The Ibrox club decided to axe Beale and his coaching staff following a disastrous 3-1 defeat by Aberdeen at the weekend, which is the club’s third Premeirship loss in the opening seven games of the season. Midfielder Steven Davis has been placed in temporary charge and will be at the helm for Thursday’s Europa League match away to Aris in Cyprus and Sunday’s league match away at St Mirren.

Former Rangers defender Kevin Muscat remains the early favourite to succeed Beale. The 50-year-old Australian is currently in charge of Yokohama F Marinos and reports earlier on Monday claimed that the ex-Socceroo is keen to talk to the Ibrox hierarchy. There is a new second favourite with the bookies, however, in Dutch boss Pascal Jansen, whose AZ Alkmaar team are unbeaten in the Eredivisie. His odds are currently 5/2.

Rangers, however, are not expected to rush an appointment. One manager who all but been ruled out is Graham Potter. The 48-year-old English coach is highly regarded despite his spell at Chelsea turning sour, but the Daily Record reports that he does not hold an interest in the vacancy.

AZ Alkmaar's Dutch coach Pascal Jansen has become second favourite for the Rangers job.

Meanwhile, Scottish football pundit and former Celtic striker Chris Sutton has launched a withering assessment of Beale’s tenure at Ibrox. He first tweeted “there are some managers that are comedy acts…” and went on to explain himself on the It’s All Kicking Off podcast.

"It was a play on words [referring to his tweet] with Michael Beale, the former Rangers manager,” said Sutton. “He dug me out. That was based on, me being a little bit petty. He dug me out, he said some ex-players are comedy acts, that was aimed at me and let’s look at what has happened now. The job was too big for him.

"He said I was Chelsea's worst-ever player. He was a Chelsea fan as a boy, I think he played for Charlton Under-14s. He never won anything and still hasn't won anything. He must have some sort of talent as a coach, I think this is a life lesson for Michael Beale. He should have learned lessons from across the city, from Ange Postecoglou, who he called 'lucky Ange'. He made that comment about him when he was Celtic manager. Celtic will feel they were 'lucky Celtic' when Beale was at Rangers because recently they have wiped the floor with them.

"The defeat to Aberdeen was the end. When fans turn, and they really turned on him after losing to Celtic – seven games isn't a lot. But there was also a Champions League qualifier where PSV wiped the floor with them. It was sort of like a London cockney car salesman going up there with all the chat, promising a Ferrari and he got a spluttering three-wheeler.

"He talked too much. The most important currency is winning. The Glasgow goldfish bowl swallowed him up. He went in and was bullish, trying to appease the Rangers fans. I didn't like the way he seemed to be taking great credit from Steven Gerrard's Rangers title success, he was the coach, they thought he was the brains behind the operation. He got away with things last season because it wasn't his team, his recruitment. The fact that they've made that call tells you the Rangers hierarchy don't trust him.

"Any manager who goes up to a game when another manager is in a job as [Giovanni] van Bronckhorst was, Beale went up and he knew Van Bronckhorst was under severe pressure, anybody who does that deserves everything they get. He talks about integrity – that was awful. He knew what he was doing and got what was coming to him."

Next Rangers manager latest: New name enters running, ex-Celtic striker fillets Michael Beale with car salesman analogy