The ever-reliable Express and Mail both say that ‘Reports’ suggest that Monk is a candidate to be the next Rangers manager, but neither rag has managed to quote any reliable source for this story.
The Glasgow former giants parted company with former boss Mark Warburton last week, in fairly bizarre circumstances. The club say that Warburton resigned, yet the man himself and the League Managers’ Association deny this, implying that he must have been sacked, and it’s all likely to end up in some sort of legal tussle over compensation.
Now both papers have suggested Monk as a possible replacement, but neither have put forward any concrete evidence that his name is actually in the frame. The best they can come up with is that as Monk is only on a one year ‘rolling contract’ at Leeds, it wouldn’t cost Rangers that month in compensation if they were to poach our head coach.
It’s a bit early to panic just yet, as several other names have been mentioned, including Gary Rowett, who would be available right away after his own bizarre sacking at Birmingham. Their former manager Alex McLeish has already said he is interested, and there is also current St Johnstone boss Tommy Wright.
At least the Express have actually spoken to Wright, and apparently he’s "flattered” by the speculation linking him to the job. But the paper think that Rangers are considering a longer-term switch to a system of having a director of football and a head coach, which would best suit a younger candidate such as Monk or Rowett.
But hopefully Monk will have the sense to prefer the possibility of promotion to the Premiership to the uncertainties of life north of the border. Rangers have been dysfunctional for a number of years, even after reforming as a new club and achieving three promotions in four years.
They are hampered by an obsession with catching up with Celtic as soon as possible, however unrealistic that might be. They made huge losses three years ago while in Scottish League One, after spending vast sums on players of a higher calibre than they needed to win the division they were actually in at the time, and the mis-management has continued ever since.
This season Warburton guided them to second place, which you might think wasn’t a bad effort in their first season after promotion, but even that wasn’t good enough for their rabid supporters, hence his acrimonious departure. Working for Cellino might be demanding, but he’s got nothing on this lot.