Gers must stay off gaffer Tinder and woo Derek
It can be an exciting time for fans when their club goes back on the market for a manager, like yer da getting let loose on Tinder once the divorce comes through.
But you need to be careful which gaffers to tap and the ones who need to be quickly swiped away.
These are troubled, dangerous times for Rangers. For a club that is rebuilding, they have developed a disastrous knack of repeatedly blowing up the foundations.
The Mark Warburton reign was meant to be the start of the next chapter where the blocks would be put in place to cement the club’s place back at the top table and provide a platform for becoming genuine title contenders.
Instead, they are as far away as they’ve ever been. Rangers might finally be in the same division as Celtic but they have about as much chance of winning the Premiership any time soon as they did when they were in the dungeons.
The club needs another rebuild. Warburton’s vision of bringing in young, hungry players to develop and then punt for profit went out the window along with his marbles.
His summer shopping list read more like a cry-for-help Just Joan letter. No wonder alarm bel ls were going off inside Ibrox.
They were so loud Dave King could hear them in South Africa.
By the end of last week the jig was up and Warbs had the pants on his head and pencils up his nose.
But what do Rangers do now?
The punters want to be skipping through the gaffer Tinder looking a cracker with an air of mystique. Forget it.
This is no time to take a punt on a beauty who might turn out to be a bunny boiler. It might not be the most sexy notion but Rangers could really do with a safe pair of hands.
They need to finish second in the league and have a decent stab at the Scottish Cup. They need someone who can recruit players who will improve results, not throws of the dice heading for the retirement home or back to their parent clubs.
Warburton was calamitous in his misjudgment of the Scottish game.
He saw Celtic as a mid-ranking Championship team in England and the rest as League One and League Two standard.
There’s a lot of dross across the border and maybe when his Brentford side managed to string two passes together he thought he was coaching Barcelona.
Scottish football is a tough school and Warburton learned the same painful lesson as other dreamers such as Tony Mowbray, Paul Le Guen and John Barnes.
Which is why it might not be the worst idea to get in someone who does understand. There’s an obvious choice here. A guy who has maximised his club’s potential, used his money wisely and who knows how to win games in Scotland.
His name is Derek McInnes.
Aberdeen fans will reckon he’d be mad to trade stability for chaos, but it doesn’t mean he shouldn’t be top of the list for King.
McInnes inherited a Dons side mired in the bottom six. In year one he was a dodgy decision away from f inishing second. He claimed runners-up spot in years two and three, picked up the League Cup on the way and is eyeing second again.
He made the Dons credible once more – which is exactly what Gers crave. McInnes is a builder. He won’t be constantly looking for a better offer elsewhere.
It would cost Rangers a hefty wedge to get him but King and Co cannot afford to get this wrong.
It will be tempting for them to keep swiping and click on someone exotic – but the answer might be simply staring them in the face.
This is no time to take a punt on a beauty who might turn out to be a bunny boiler