Rangers 'not the only option' as Danny Röhl links with EPL outfit revealed prior to Ibrox move

While Steven Gerrard and Kevin Muscat were named amongst the front-runners for the Rangers job in the last fortnight, it was the Zwickau-born head coach who was eventually installed as Rangers' new manager after reports claimed the duo had pulled out of the process. The ex-Sheffield Wednesday boss was confirmed as Russell Martin’s successor on Monday afternoon, signing a two-and-a-half-year contract in Govan.

Speaking to the media for the first time on Tuesday at Ibrox, the 36-year-old coach brushed off talk of being the club’s third choice. He insisted that sitting in the dugout for Rangers’ next game was enough to convince him that he was chairman Andrew Cavenagh’s first choice all along, ahead of both Gerrard and Muscat.

“We interviewed a number of great candidates,” said Cavenagh. “We spoke to the two that you mentioned and to a number of other candidates that you never heard about. From the club’s perspective, we have to treat this process with absolute confidentiality, or other coaches won’t want to engage with us in the future. That means there is asymmetric information: what is in the press and what is actually happening. So it looked clunky from an outside perspective, but it was not at all clunky from our perspective from the club.

“We left London ten days ago, having done a whole bunch of meetings, and I said to our group how happy I was that we had five candidates, not just the three who have been talked about, who I was extremely comfortable would be great coaches for Rangers.”

The appointment came as a surprise to many Rangers fans; however, after Sky Germany reporter Florian Plettenburg revealed Röhl had withdrawn from the process to be named as their next manager late last week, claiming the German boss felt “the timing just wasn’t right.” However, according to a fresh report from respected German publication Bild, the club maintained contact with the former Bayern Munich assistant manager and approached him again over the weekend after growing ‘certain’ he was the right man for the job and a fresh start.

While many have questioned whether he was indeed the club’s number one choice, it has now been revealed that Röhl himself had ‘several’ other options before opting to move to Rangers, with one English Premier League club naming him on their shortlist to become their new manager as recently as last month.

“Rangers weren't his only option,” wrote Bild. “Röhl had recently been on the list of several clubs. Last winter, HSV wanted him. In the summer, Röhl held concrete talks with VfL Wolfsburg, Werder Bremen, RB Leipzig, and Southampton. He was also a candidate for West Ham after they parted ways with Graham Potter.

Currently sixth in the Scottish Premiership, with just one win from their opening eight league games, the 36-year-old will take charge of his first game at Ibrox this Sunday, with Kilmarnock the visitors in Glasgow. However, he will look to get the club’s first Europa League points of the season on Thursday, as he takes his Rangers side to Bergen to face SK Brann in the Europa League.

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