Three Bears behind Felix

THE Three Bears are behind Felix Magath’s bid to become Rangers’ new technical director. Sportsmail understands the former Fulham manager has aligned himself with Douglas Park, George Letham and George Taylor in the hope they can become the new powerbrokers at Ibrox. Magath snapped up £200,000 of shares in the club, having been alerted to the potential at Rangers during a visit to Murray Park with Fulham last summer. He has held preliminary discussions with representatives of the three businessmen in Scotland this week and both parties are open to further discussions. The 61-year-old

wants to overhaul Rangers’ coaching and scouting structure based on the German model — with responsibility for recruiting and developing players resting with Magath (right). A head coach would assume responsibility for the first team, with transfers in and out at that level decided jointly — in line with the European model. Whether the former Stuttgart and Bayern Munich manager’s dream is realised, however, depends on the Park-led consortium getting the keys to the door. Currently with around 20 per cent of the club, the Three Bears — together with Dave King and American Robert Sarver — are hopeful of wresting control from the Mike Ashley-Easdale brothers axis currently ruling the roost. With the club fast running out of money and already £3million in debt to Ashley, the current power brokers look increasingly vulnerable to market forces. Sarver, the financier who owns the Phoenix Suns basketball team, is still awaiting a response to his increased £20m offer — plus a £6.5m loan — he tabled earlier this week. Significantly, however, it would require 75 per cent of shareholders to approve the issue of fresh capital to the American in order for his takeover to get off the ground — a threshold the Three Bears, King, who has a 15-per-cent stake, and myriad other parties could prevent him from reaching. King insists he is not working ‘in concert’ with the Three Bears to exact boardroom change, but both parties do share a common goal. Despite the worsening financial situation, neither the Easdales nor Newcastle United owner Ashley have indicated they are willing to sell up yet. King’s campaign last year to deny the club season-ticket money has hardened the board’s attitude to him. Given the transfer of shares over the past few weeks, however — with Laxey selling their stake to the Three Bears — an emergency general meeting calling for the removal of existing directors is an increasingly viable route for either King or the Park consortium. King is believed to be keenest on this road to power but, as of last night, had yet to play his hand. Park, Letham and Taylor are favouring a more low-profile strategy but their link with Magath will undoubtedly increase their standing among floating voters. Last night, the German said: ‘I spent the Christmas holidays in London and visited someone in Glasgow but I don’t want to comment on whether there has been talks with the club.’ Magath has been out of work since leaving relegated Fulham in September but his reputation as a sharp football brain is undiminished. He managed Hamburg before spells at Nurnberg, Eintracht Frankfurt and Werder Bremen. Over three seasons at Stuttgart, he developed players such as Andreas Hinkel, Kevin Kuranyi, Philipp Lahm and Mario Gomez. He left Stuttgart for Bayern Munich, where he won two doubles, but his subsequent success at Wolfsburg put even that in the shade. They avoided relegation on the last day of the season in 2007 but, the following year, he took them to fifth and, in 2009, won the Bundesliga. Schalke 04 was the next stop but an initial second-place finish proved the high water mark and, following his dismissal in March 2011, relegation-threatened Wolfsburg came calling again. Although he kept them up, Magath left the club for a second time a year later. That opened the door to his first job outwith Germany at Fulham last February but, after failing to keep them up, he was fired in September.