Michael Beale is 1/2 favourite to be the next Rangers manager following the dismissal of Giovanni van Bronckhorst.
After taking over at Ibrox a year ago, Van Bronckhorst guided the Gers to seven straight league wins, but the winter break proved to be a turning point.
After Celtic’s poor start to the season, they picked up 48 points from a possible 54, while Rangers only managed 38 (losing twice and drawing once to their arch rivals) to finish four points off the pace.
Rangers fans will never forget their journey to the Europa League final, overcoming Borussia Dortmund, Red Star Belgrade, Braga and RB Leipzig, before falling agonisingly short in Sevilla, losing on penalties to Eintracht Frankfurt.
The Gers did taste some cup success, though, beating Celtic in the Scottish Cup semi-finals before a 2-0 win in the final against Hearts, marking their first Scottish Cup win since 2009.
But that alone was never going to be what Van Bronckhorst was judged on, and to be nine points behind Celtic before even reaching the halfway point of the season would always leave the Dutchman under pressure with the title race as good as over before Christmas.
They’ve dropped seven points in their last five games, and that’s after the 4-0 hammering at Celtic Park back in September, with the club parting ways with 47-year-old.
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And so begins the search for a new manager, and the Ibrox club may need to look no further than Michael Beale.
The QPR boss has won many admirers since taking over at Loftus Road, though a poor November which saw the Hoops pick up just one point from four has seen them move out of the play-off places.
Despite being in the dugout as Steven Gerrard’s number two as recently as 12 months ago, Beale would represent a real coup for Rangers, with Beale already turning down an approach from Premier League Wolves earlier in the season.
The 42-year-old is 1/2 favourite for the Ibrox hotseat, but having already turned a Premier League side down, there are no guarantees he’ll make the trip back over the border, particularly when given his reasons for rejecting Wolves.
Beale pointed to the commitment he’d made to QPR and how he’d been “all-in” at the club and asked others for the same commitment, so you’d think it would take a hugely enticing offer to lure him away from Loftus Road.
That may offer value elsewhere in the market. Kevin Muscat, who spent a year at Ibrox as a player, is second favourite at 6/1, though the bulk of his managerial career has been in Australia, and he’s currently employed by Yokohama F Marinos in Japan, coincidentally taking over from Ange Postecoglou for the second time in his career.
Sean Dyche is 8/1 third favourite, and while reports have suggested Dyche was waiting for a suitable Premier League job after parting ways with Burnley last season, a move to Glasgow may appeal.
Recently-departed Southampton manager Ralph Hasenhuttl is 16/1, as is Steven Gerrard to make a shock move back to Ibrox.
Also priced at 16/1 are Duncan Ferguson, Scott Parker and David Martindale.
