OPINION
The bookmakers’ odds are usually a very good gauge of the situation when a marquee club is searching for a new manager.
And, if the latest prices are anything to go by, Rangers fans should be worried.
SkyBet priced Alex McLeish, 58, as the odds-on frontrunner at 1/2 on Monday morning as he soared ahead of Derek McInnes and other candidates in the betting race to take over the Ibrox dugout that was vacated by Pedro Caixinha more than a month ago.
Aberdeen manager McInnes, 46, is now a relatively distant second favourite (5/2) after revealing last Friday that he will be staying at Pittodrie.
McInnes explained at his press briefing, as quoted by the Scottish Sun, that he had no intentions of leaving Aberdeen following clear the air talks with club chairman Stewart Milne.
McLeish has openly said that he would be keen on a return to the Rangers helm, just as he did shortly before Caixinha landed the job ahead of him in March.
But, is the 58-year-old what Rangers need at this time?
McLeish spent five years in charge of Rangers from 2001 to 2006 and won seven major trophies, including the treble in his second season at the helm in 2002-03.
The Scot is available, knows Rangers inside out after a successful spell as manager in which he won the treble, and won’t cost a penny in compensation.
But appointing the 58-year-old would be a retrograde step. Since leaving Ibrox in 2006, he has had a successful four-year spell at Birmingham and decent short reigns with Scotland and at Belgium outfit Genk, but his reputation suffered through a disastrous year at Aston Villa and his most recent job was at Egyptian side Zamalek last year. McLeish is yesterday’s man, and Rangers need to move forward.
Rangers have suffered a series of embarrassments in recent years. If they appointed McLeish as their new manager, it would be the latest humiliation to add to an already extensive list.