BT Sport pundit Chris Sutton has claimed that Derek McInnes will be appointed the next Rangers manager.
The Celtic legend claimed on the broadcaster’s Twitter feed on Tuesday night that he has been told by his sources that the Glasgow giants are willing to pay the reported £1.5million compensation needed to prise McInnes from Aberdeen and he will soon be in the Ibrox hotseat.
Ex-Celtic striker Sutton believes that it is a no-brainer for the Light Blues to go for McInnes as he divulged the latest on Rangers’ manager search.
“I’m saying it will be Derek McInnes,” said Sutton, as broadcast on BT Sport Football’s official Twitter account on Tuesday evening. “I’m hearing Rangers have the money.
Celtic legends Henrik Larsson and Chris Sutton preview the game at Paradise against Bayern Munich… https://t.co/3ZysPUfN0J
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“[It is] absolutely the right move, he’s the man for the Rangers job. He turned down Sunderland in the summer.
“McInnes has done a terrific job at Aberdeen, the time is right for him to move. It is a good time to go in, as whoever goes in has a chance of improving Rangers.”
McInnes, 46, has been widely linked with replacing Pedro Caixinha after he was sacked last Thursday.
McInnes has had great success in his three full seasons with Aberdeen, guiding them to finishing third in his first year, before back-to-back runners-up spots to Celtic in the past two campaigns.
Last term the ex-Scotland international midfielder also guided the Dons to the Scottish League Cup and Scottish Cup finals, where they lost to Celtic on both occasions.
Graeme Murty is in temporary charge of the Gers and has so far managed to steady the ship with a 3-1 win at Hearts last weekend.
OPINION
Sutton has proved in the past that he is a reliable source of information about Scottish football, breaking the news that Patrick Roberts had agreed to return to Celtic long before the deal was official. The former striker appears to have been given a steer that McInnes will soon be appointed by Rangers. If that’s the case, it is a smart appointment. The Scot knows the SPL inside out, has steered Aberdeen to three consecutive league runners-up spots and is well aware of the expectations at Rangers after five years at the club during his playing days, when he won the treble. His trophy count as a manager is just the 2014 Scottish League Cup, a figure which will put off many Light Blues fans, who were also distinctly unimpressed last week when he said that Celtic are unbeatable. But McInnes is a considerable upgrade on Pedro Caixinha, and it represents a smart move by Rangers.