Ex-Rangers man to land new role at promotion chasing EFL club following 200-day exile
The ex-Rangers coach is expected to join the EFL Championship promotion chasers.
Former Rangers first team coach Harry Watling is set to return to football following a 200-day absence after reports claimed he was close to being named as the new assistant boss of EFL Championship promotion chasers Middlesbrough.
The Teesside outfit are close to naming former Luton Town head coach Rob Edwards as their new manager following the departure of Michael Carrick last month, and the 42-year-old is expected to to link up with the former Rangers man at the Riverside Stadium as he begins to build his backroom team. Watling will likely be joined by Richie Kyle and Paul Trollope, with the pair having worked with Edwards previously at Luton.
The 35-year-old English coach spent almost one year as first team coach at Rangers, joining the Glasgow giants as part of Michael Beale’s backroom team in October 2023, but departed the club alongside the ex-Ibrox boss following a dismal 3-1 home defeat to Aberdeen in the Scottish Premiership.
“You understand the demands before you take the job,” commented Watling, following his departure from Govan. “You understand the jeopardy of what it looks like to work at a club as big as Rangers. You understand the demands before you take the job. You have to win.
“When you have the turnover of players that we did in that pre-season, it's going to take time to click and we did everything on and off the pitch to try and make that happen. It was a case of introducing a lot of international players to Glasgow. Making sure that they're happy with their accommodation, they're happy with the timing of their partners coming over.”
Following his departure from Ibrox, Watling was appointed as manager of English non-league outfit Ebbsfleet United in September 2024. During his time in charge of the club, he signed 10 new players, but was unable to change the team’s fortunes, with his time at Stonebridge Road far from successful.
The ex-Ibrox man left the club via mutual consent after less than three months in the role, following a poor run of results that saw the Northfleet side win just three of his 18 games in charge of the club. With the club bottom of the National League table and 11 points from safety, Watling was replaced by Josh Wright, though he was unable to halt the club’s relegation to the sixth tier of English football.
In an interesting twist of fate, one of Watling’s first games as Middlesbrough assistant could see him return to Ibrox for the time since leaving the club in 2024, with his new club scheduled to play Rangers on Saturday 25 July in a pre-season friendly.
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