In boss running

Paul: Stu

CONTENDER Stuart McCall THE new Rangers regime reckon Stuart McCall is mounting a serious bid to be awarded the manager’s job on a long-term basis.

But Paul Murray has confirmed they will speak with other candidates and the appointment of a director of sport is a strong possibility.

McCall has taken Rangers to the brink of a play-off final against Motherwell next week, less than three months after former stand-in Kenny McDowall admitted they were in danger of dropping out of the top four all together.

Murray said: “Stuart McCall has done an unbelievable job in terms of stepping in and being really selfless.

“Obviously the team has been a bit up and down but has definitely progressed since March.

“Stuart will definitely be a strong candidate but the board have an obligation to look at other options.

“We are not going to go out and advertise the job and talk to 100 people. But we need to look at what the options might be.

“If you look at most clubs who have aspirations to play in the Champions League, almost every one of them has a director of football or technical director.” THEY may have toiled all season to climb from the Championship but Dave King insists the balance sheet at Ibrox is Champions League.

King arrived in Scotland on Tuesday and will be appointed Rangers chairman today as the job of rebuilding the Ibrox club on and off the field continues in earnest.

Former chief executive Derek Llambias and finance boss Barry Leach were both axed yesterday, without the pay-off they craved, leaving the way clear for King to appoint a new executive team.

Llambias and Leach may yet seek legal recourse but King is relaxed about the prospect, viewing it as part of an ongoing strategy in dealing with issues relating to Sports Direct from which he will not flinch.

The club’s short-term financial future has been secured with another £1.5million from the Three Bears and a similar sum from King to keep the gas on in Govan and the gas guzzlers running at Murray Park.

The club will need additional financial support from seasonticket holders and key investors in the coming months to fund a rebuilding strategy that will see players of Premiership quality arrive over the summer, even if Rangers fail to get past Hibs and Motherwell in the play-offs.

In the medium term a share issue will also be launched as King again reiterated he is willing to commit the thick end of £30m from his family trust, most likely over four years, to help his boyhood favourites back to the big time.

Other core investors, including the Three Bears, are also committed to flexing their financial muscle, reiterating King’s claims from March 2014 it could take £50m over four years to have Rangers competing in the Champions League again.

King said: “We’ve come a long way and there is a lot happening at the club, although it is in a fragile state in that we are only five or six weeks away from pre-season and we don’t have an executive team in place.

“I’m talking about the CEO, commercial director, financial director. We don’t have a longterm manager and we’re not even sure where we’ll be playing next year.

“It’s quite a challenging period and it was frustrating over the last couple of months in particular to be sitting on the sidelines knowing you want to get involved and do something about it.

“However, there was never a moment I didn’t think we would get there. There were times we were knocked back but we always came back fairly strong with a different game plan.

“The turning point was the level of support from the fans which really got us over the line. They got to a point where they really stood to attention and bought shares and did a whole bunch of things they hadn’t done previously.

“Now if you look at Rangers, even in terms of the financials, we are in an incredibly strong position. We have shareholders who can fund it and it has virtually no debt. How many clubs in the world don’t have debt?

“For any football club our balance sheet is incredibly strong. We are one of the strongest clubs in the world financially.

“How many clubs are sitting with £5m of interest-free debt and that is all they’ve got? We got the fans, we’ve got the seasonticket money, we’ve got the stadium, everything all paid for. There’s not many clubs in that position. We’re incredibly strong financially at the moment.”

Rangers may finally have a balance sheet that sparkles but Johannesburg-based King, fresh from being named fit and proper by the SFA, addressed the media yesterday from a Blue Room whose windows were streaked with dirt.

The window cleaner clearly

We’re in an incredibly strong position. How many clubs in the world