Glasgow Rangers finally sacked Michael Beale on Sunday evening after just ten months in charge of the club following a series of poor displays which has resulted in them already trailing Celtic by seven points in the Premiership.
This clearly isn’t good enough, and the search now begins for the Gers 19th permanent manager, a decision which the Ibrox side simply cannot afford to get wrong.
Steven Davis has been placed in interim charge of the Gers while the hunt for the new boss continues, and he will be looking to steady the ship for whoever comes in to take the job permanently.
What went wrong for Michael Beale at Rangers?
The 43-year-old was appointed last November following the sacking of Giovanni van Bronckhorst and having first been assistant at the club when Steven Gerrard was in charge, it looked like a relatively safe choice.
It was perhaps too safe an appointment. Beale failed to secure any domestic trophies during the second half of the 2022/23 season as Celtic claimed yet another treble, but there were a few positive signs, including January arrivals Todd Cantwell and Nicolas Raskin and the summer transfer window would see the Gers squad totally revamped.
Indeed, over the course of the summer, Beale managed to sign nine new players for his new-look side, while crowd favourites such as Alfredo Morelos and Scott Arfield, along with Ryan Kent, all left upon the expiration of their contracts in what was a much-needed rebuild.
Those arrivals didn’t exactly click into gear however, with the Light Blues going on to win just four of their opening nine fixtures of the 2023/24 season, while defeats to PSV Eindhoven in the Champions League and Celtic in the Premiership before the international break arguably derailing their campaign before it really got started.
The malaise looked like it was disappearing as four straight wins were recorded upon the resumption of club football, with no goals conceded in those ties, yet the 3-1 defeat to Aberdeen last weekend along with the woeful and uninspired performances on the pitch meant action had to be taken straight away.
Ten months isn’t a long time for a manager to make their mark, yet the previous few weeks have seen the club devoid of all identity and a change was required before things got even worse.
The question is, who will want to take the reins at Rangers for the next few years?
Who will be the next Rangers manager?
It hasn’t taken long for a few names to pop up and declare their interest in the managerial role at Rangers, with former defender Kevin Muscat claiming to be keen on discussing the role and becoming their new manager, while AZ Alkmaar coach Pascal Jansen is also another name who seems to be interested in taking over.
These are the sort of options the club should be looking at as while they represent a gamble, it is one which is required if the Gers are to kick on and start winning trophies on a regular basis.
Another name that has been touted with the role is Graham Potter. Back in September, Potter reportedly rejected the chance to manage Rangers after being approached, despite Beale still holding the job.
According to the Daily Record however, he isn’t interested in managing the Glasgow side, despite being out of work for nearly six months following his sacking by Chelsea.
Given time and the chance to properly develop players, Potter would be an intriguing choice as manager and the board should attempt to convince him that a return to a club which is among one of the biggest in Great Britain, could potentially prove successful.
Is Graham Potter better than Michael Beale?
Over the course of his brief managerial career, Beale has taken charge of 120 matches and won 65 of them, while his teams have managed to score 217 times over the course of these games.
In contrast, Potter – who has been managing for a far longer time period – has taken charge of 440 matches in his career, winning 185 of these while seeing his teams score 635 goals in the process.
The Englishman took charge of Swedish side Ostersunds and led them from the lower reaches of the Swedish leagues to the top flight, while winning the Swedish Cup in 2017 and securing them European football for the first time in their history.
They even defeated Arsenal during that campaign, and it wasn’t long before he was courted by bigger teams, landing the Swansea City job for the 2018/19 season.
Following a season in Wales, Potter was announced as the Brighton and Hove Albion boss in the summer of 2019 he continued his wonderful development by turning them into a team which would eventually finish ninth in the Premier League.
Reporter Sam Morton praised the 48-year-old in the summer of 2022, despite the club losing two of their prized assets. He said: “It was a shame to see Cucurella and Bissouma leave Brighton, but Graham Potter is the only irreplaceable asset at the club, you feel. The man is a genius.”
His spell at Chelsea was perhaps the right man at the wrong time, especially with the hiring and firing nature at the club over the previous few seasons, and he is now searching for his next big managerial role.
Rangers will know all about his ability and how he can get a tune out of his players and this must be something they will seriously consider as they ramp up the chase for the next manager.
Potter may be inexperienced when it comes to winning trophies, but his career thus far has been about so much more. Building a team, developing a proper style of play, and forging an identity have been key staples since he started out on his managerial journey and if given time and the resources at Rangers, there is no doubt he could be a success.
Although he has ruled himself out, the board should be persistent in nature and get this deal over the line.