Glasgow Rangers secured their first win since 27 September at the weekend, claiming a 3-0 victory over St Mirren in the Premiership and it was a much-needed three points on the road.
Interim manager, Steven Davis – who was placed in charge following the sacking of Michael Beale – moved on from the horror show in Limassol last week to claim his first win as interim boss, and it ensures the Gers move into second place in the league table, albeit still seven points behind Celtic.
The title race appears to be over, and it isn’t even Halloween yet, and the Light Blues are looking for their third manager in just two years following the sackings of Beale and Giovanni van Bronckhorst.
Chief executive James Bisgrove is now looking to appoint just the 19th permanent manager of the club, and he has a massive decision to make over the next few days, no question about it.
Indeed, chairman John Bennett and Bisgrove travelled down to London on Monday in order to conduct more face-to-face talks with potential candidates, with the role looking likely to be filled by the end of the week.
With the club seemingly near the end of their hunt for a new manager, who will be the lucky man that arrives in Glasgow for arguably the biggest challenge of their managerial career?
Who will be the next Rangers manager?
According to Andy Devlin from the Scottish Sun, four names are currently in the running to take over the role. Scott Parker, Philippe Clement, Kevin Muscat and Pascal Jansen have all been noted, but a favourite is yet to be revealed.
Aside from Parker, these names have all enjoyed solid success in their respective careers to date and would be worthy appointments, but they face a major task in getting a tune out of some of the players.
Summer arrivals such as Kieran Dowell, Sam Lammers and Danilo haven’t really hit the ground running at Ibrox as yet while it is another forward – Cyriel Dessers – who has been subject to plenty of criticism during his brief spell in Rangers thus far.
If he hits a run of form and gains some confidence, the Nigerian could potentially light up Ibrox, but this ability has been missing so far and requires an excellent coach to come in and light a fire beneath him in the next few months.
How has Cyriel Dessers performed for Rangers?
Beale earmarked Dessers as one of his main targets during the summer transfer window after he had scored seven goals for Serie A side Cremonese during the 2022/23 season.
The 43-year-old finally got his man for a transfer fee in the region of £4.5m and it looked as though he had all the necessary attributes to lead the line and fill the void left by Antonio Colak and Alfredo Morelos.
It hasn’t quite gone to plan for the 28-year-old yet, however. He has found the back of the net only three times across 15 games for the Gers and his all-round statistics haven’t been much better.
Across the whole squad for league performances, Dessers ranks in a lowly 22nd spot for overall Sofascore rating (6.7) while also ranking first for big chances missed (six), 13th for big chances created (one) and eighth for successful dribbles per game (0.6), hardly the numbers that Beale was looking for.
FC Utrecht
56
19
KRC Genk
43
11
Feyenoord
41
20
NAC Breda
40
29
Lokeren
40
7
Cremonese
29
7
Heracles
29
18
Rangers
15
3
Stats via Transfermarkt
Although not endearing himself to the supporters with these performances, perhaps a change of manager may do him the world of good and managerial candidate Jansen could potentially bring out the best in the former Feyenoord striker, that’s for sure.
Will Pascal Jansen be the next Rangers manager?
The London-born coach has been in charge of AZ Alkmaar since December 2020 and has done a wonderful job trying to disrupt the hegemony of the big three of Ajax, PSV Eindhoven and Feyenoord and his side currently sits second in the Eredivisie table following seven wins and just one draw from eight matches.
Journalist Graeme Bailey praised the manager before AZ took on West Ham United in the Europa Conference League semi-finals last season, saying: “Spoke with AZ manager Pascal Jansen this week ahead of their Europa Conference League semi-final second leg with West Ham.
“English-born, a truly fascinating and engaging character who would love chance to manage in the Premier League.”
The 50-year-old typically deploys a 4-3-3 formation which would certainly suit the players in the current Gers squad, especially Dessers, as he could be the focal point of the attack while being surrounded by creative-minded talents such as Todd Cantwell, Abdallah Sima or Rabbi Matondo.
Jansen will know all about the striker due to his season at Feyenoord during 2021/22 and the Nigerian even netted against AZ in a 1-0 win back in November 2021, giving the manager a closer view of his talents.
That season was one of Dessers’ finest as he scored 20 goals across 41 matches, including nine in the top flight and Jansen might just have a few methods which could bring out the best from the out-of-form striker.
During his stint managing AZ, Jansen has a wonderful 1.99 points per match average while his side has netted 306 goals during just 147 matches in charge and this works out at just over two goals per game which indicates that the Ibrox side could be set to see some attacking football on show.
He hasn’t won anything in his managerial career yet, but neither had Beale and taking the safe option yet again would set the Light Blues back even further.
A gamble is the only logical option for Bisgrove and co and Jansen is exactly that. He has proven he can mix it with the big guns in the Netherlands while developing his own players along with making sure the established professionals in the squad stay happy and perform on a consistent basis.
With knowledge of Dessers from a couple of seasons ago, the AZ coach could transform his fortunes and get him firing in a Rangers jersey.
If he does, there is no doubt he could add goals and the gap to Celtic, with some luck, may just shrink in the coming months.