McLeish emerges as the early favourite to fill hot seat at Ibrox

Alex McLeish has indicated he would jump at the chance to return to Rangers.

The Gers are searching for a new manager following their dramatic split with Mark Warburton.

Graeme Murty was placed in charge of the team for yesterday’s William Hill Scottish Cup fifth-round tie against Morton (see report below), but the out-of-work McLeish has emerged as an early front-runner to take the Ibrox job.

McLeish, who won two league titles in a five-year spell as Rangers manager from 2001 to 2006, admitted he would find it hard to turn down the post, should it be offered.

Speaking to Sky Sports 2 ahead of the Morton clash, he said: “There is a lot of speculation, but at the moment there is nothing I can update you on.

“I am a Rangers man, you have to keep that in consideration, and when you get asked to come to a club like this, it is a hard decision to turn that down.

“If they come and they want to speak to me, I can only take it from there.

“I need to wait and see if Rangers want to talk to me first.”

Meanwhile, Murty claimed he had “the world” telling him which Rangers team to pick for the Morton game.

The Gers’ under-20 boss was asked to take charge on Friday night after the club issued a statement claiming Mark Warburton and his management team had resigned, although that was reportedly denied by the former Brentford boss.

Murty tried unsuccessfully to call Warburton but had plenty of advice given to him before the game.

Murty, who was at the Glasgow Warriors rugby game on Friday night when he got the call to go to Ibrox, said of his first experience of picking a Rangers first team: “It was difficult because I had the world telling me what to do.

“I had quite a few people on Twitter telling me what team to pick. I had every person in my phone book telling me I have to do this and do that.

“In the end I had to go with what I thought. Picking it was difficult but telling the players who were not involved was even harder. I thought I should do that face to face and give them the respect they deserve, so I did and the result is what you saw.

“It was a bit of a whirlwind really. I will take some time tonight to decompress and relax and possibly have a glass of wine and get my thoughts sorted out, but I have to say I stood on the sidelines and thoroughly enjoyed watching the team play.

“I am just busy sorting out my head. I thoroughly enjoyed it. Does it drive me in a way for the future? I have no idea. I will sort my thoughts out later.”

Murty said he will try again to call Warburton to thank him for bringing him to Ibrox.

“I need to wait and see if Rangers want to talk to me first. ALEX McLEISH

Picture: SNS. Alex McLeish: a ‘Rangers man’.