Alison McConnell has been left stunned by the suggestion that Rangers will appoint their next manager on a long-term contract, calling the decision a “madness.”
The Light Blues are closing in on appointing Michael Beale’s successor at Ibrox after a lengthy search has seen their shortlist reduced to just two names: Kevin Muscat and Philippe Clement. But currently the Belgian appears to be leading the race.
It has been reported that the Light Blues were veering towards appointing the former Monaco boss on a four-year contract [Peter Martin, 12 October], a decision which freelance journalist McConnell cannot understand given the current situation at Ibrox.
Speaking on PLZ Soccer’s The Football Show on Thursday (12 October, 23:27) she said: “I think the talk of three or four year contracts for managers is madness. I think a one-year rolling contract for me would be absolutely the sensible way to go.
“I don’t know if sometimes you need to attract a manager by offering a longer-term contract but I think that’s madness. We spoke about it at the start of this season, this was very much Michael Beale’s team because of the sheer volume of players that came in between January and then across a very busy summer.
“It’s not just the fact that you have to go out and recruit players to raise your quality what do you do with the players that you’ve bought? I think whoever comes in will be working with minimum resources, I think there will be an element of who can get the best out of what you’ve gotgot”.
Rolling contracts
Rangers historically have not been a club known for chopping and changing managers at the drop of the hat and their recent record of managerial turnover is viewed as a break from tradition in some ways as the Light Blues are typically expected to stand by their boss through thick and thin.
Because of that historical record, the natural decision would be to offer whoever takes over at Ibrox an extended contract to ensure that both the new manager and the football club have the security behind them to be able to build towards long-term success.
Rolling contracts leave managers in a constant state of limbo as they have no idea when the rug could be pulled from under them and their time in charge could abruptly end on top of that they don’t offer a very attractive proposition for a managerial candidate.
To attract the sort of calibre of manager Rangers want with this next appointment, they are going to have to offer long-term deals, especially as the new manager will likely have to take the remainder of this season to prepare to catch Celtic next time out.
While a four-year deal may be a bit extreme and could leave the Light Blues with a hefty compensation fee if their new manager is to leave earlier than planned, the Gers will have to offer more than a rolling deal to tempt the likes of Muscat or Clement to take over at Ibrox.
