MANAGING RANGERS WOULD HAVE BEEN ‘HUGELY EXCITING’

GARY ROWETT has revealed how he missed out on the ‘hugely exciting’ chance to manage Rangers when the Ibrox club moved to make the disastrous appointment of Pedro Caixinha.

For a recently-sacked boss, Rowett (pictured) was hot property in the early months of 2017, just as Rangers parted company with Mark Warburton.

For no one in football other than Birmingham’s new owners could adequately explain the logic behind a decision to axe him in December 2016.

Rowett had impressed by defying huge financial problems to drive the relegation candidates into a play-off challenging position of seventh when he was fired and Gianfranco Zola appointed.

He met with Ibrox managing director Stewart Robertson and board member Graeme Park, son of current chairman Douglas, in a London hotel for an interview. However, there was a suspicion Caixinha had impressed so much in his talks with Rangers’ hierarchy that Rowett was only a back-up option in case the deal for the Portuguese collapsed.

Rowett recalls: ‘For me, it was an exciting one because I’d just left Birmingham, done a good job there and thought I’d probably get a good Championship job next.

‘So it was then hard to look at Rangers and not be really tempted by the fact you’d have 50,000 fans behind you.

‘With the crowds, the games up there and the expectation, it’s obviously a hugely exciting opportunity for someone.

‘It certainly was something that I was really interested in. I sat down with them for an interview but I found it all a bit bizarre, if I’m being honest.

‘I got the feeling they might already have made their minds up. I’m not sure how close I came. I think I came down to the last two — and Caixinha got the job.

‘But I think Rangers are in good hands at the moment with Steven Gerrard. I’ll be watching the title battle this year really closely. For me, maybe another time...’