Rangers' embattled board now behind eight ball after Steven Gerrard saga as new next manager candidates emerge

X has been awash with ‘updates’ from media outlets you’ve never heard of. Steven Gerrard photos and videos from years gone by have been dredged up. Over on Instagram, every move of Jermain Defoe was being monitored, who hasn’t been shy in saying he wants to return to Ibrox as a coach. On Friday night, a video of him dressed in shirt and tie had tongues wagging that he was on his way to an unveiling. Or maybe it was a wedding.

Who knows? And since Martin’s inevitable dismissal as Rangers head coach a week ago, there has been a lot of conjecture.

Almost all of it has centred around Gerrard. Rangers fans had been salivating at the prospect of the man who led them to their last Premiership title in 2021 returning to Ibrox and reviving this ailing football club. Those hopes were spectacularly dashed late on Saturday evening when it emerged the 45-year-old had removed himself from the running.

It was a savage blow to many Rangers supporters - and also to chairman Andrew Cavenagh and his deputy, 49ers Enterprises chief Paraag Marathe. They have been heading up the search for Martin’s successor ever since they pulled the trigger on him after last Sunday’s 1-1 draw with Falkirk.

Cavenagh and Marathe met Gerrard on more than one occasion in London over the past few days. There were reports that a deal was “close”. The Liverpool legend had fuelled speculation himself in a podcast conveniently released earlier in the week when he admitted he is ready to return to football management if the right opportunity was to present itself.

Gerrard’s key lines in podcast

“I’d love another couple of challenges doing this,” Gerrard told former England teammate Rio Ferdinand in said podcast, which was recorded prior to Martin’s exit. “And that’s what I’m working on in the background at the moment. A few different ideas, a few different people around me.”

There were a couple of key lines in the Gerrard podcast that show exactly where he is at. “I want to be at a team that’s going to compete to win because I think that suits me better,” he revealed. “I think certain jobs and certain clubs would suit my style and the way I like to go about it.”

After talking to this Rangers board, Gerrard wasn’t persuaded this current team fits the bill. Only he will be able to truly state why a move back to Ibrox did not appeal but looking at the squad assembled during the summer and the fact Rangers are already 11 points adrift in the title race, he may not have seen enough potential in the building to make a decent fist of things.

Rangers are also set up differently to when he was in charge between 2018 and 2021. With the recent takeover of the club, a footballing structure is already in place with sporting director Kevin Thelwell and recruitment chief Dan Purdy. Alongside Martin, they have spent the guts of £20 million on 13 new players. Gerrard would have been playing with someone else’s toys in the first few months of his premiership.

Gerrard is a manager, a leader - but perhaps not a bona-fide head coach. He needs a good team around him, people who he can trust and can mask his deficiencies. He assembled a fine back-room staff last time, including Michael Beale, and that allowed Rangers to flourish. Would that have been possible this time around?

Regardless, right now Gerrard is not coming back. He has, however, succeeded in putting himself back in the shop window. He comes out of this just fine.

But given the groundswell, which has at times bordered on hysteria over the past few days about Gerrard’s potential return, the Rangers hierarchy now has another problem. Whoever now comes in to replace Martin is immediately behind the eight ball. They could wear a Steven Gerrard mask on their unveiling and it still wouldn’t curry favour with some supporters.

Danny Rohl is now the favourite to be next Rangers head coach. The 36-year-old German has been out of work since leaving turmoil-ridden Sheffield Wednesday during the summer. Rohl wanted out because of the Championship side’s financial issues. Some would argue he would be jumping from the frying pan into the fire should he choose Ibrox.

Rohl has spoken with Cavenagh and Co and reports suggest those discussions were constructive. The same was said about the early talks with Gerrard. But unlike the ex-Ibrox boss, Rohl’s name is not titillating the Rangers fanbase. Perhaps he is viewed - maybe unfairly - as too similar an appointment to Martin, a modern-day head coach with a background in the middle reaches of English football.

The other next Rangers manager options

What other options do Rangers have? Graham Potter, formerly of Chelsea and very recently sacked by West Ham, has been mentioned, as has former Wolves and Bournemouth boss Gary O’Neil. On paper, they carry more gravitas than Rohl. Other names doing the rounds include Mark van Bommel, Raphael Wicky, Ralph Hassenhuttl and Michael Carrick.

And then there is Derek McInnes, the man who turned down Rangers nearly eight years ago when he was in charge of Aberdeen. He now has Hearts flying high at the top of the Premiership and is a real threat to the Ibrox side’s aspiration this season. The 54-year-old is very happy at Hearts after joining the Tony Bloom-led revolution from Kilmarnock at the start of the summer. But if you don’t ask, you don’t get. McInnes would be the stand-out candidate within Scottish football.

What is most galling for Rangers, though, is that a week on from sacking Martin, they have overseen another failure in the courtship of Gerrard. They face Dundee United on Saturday in the return of domestic football, with under-19 coach Steven Smith currently overseeing first-team affairs. This appointment needs to be done swiftly. Already on the back foot following Gerrard’s rejection, the new owners’ credit is running dangerously low for many fans.