Russell Martin remains Rangers manager, but for how much longer will this be the case?
The current events at Ibrox are historic, but not in a good way, with Martin still yet to win a league match in five attempts, following last weekend’s embarrassing 2-0 defeat at the hands of Hearts, making this the club’s worst start to a campaign since 1978.
Before the Gers are next in Premiership action, they’ll host Hibernian in a League Cup quarter-final on Saturday and then commence their Europa League campaign with a visit from Genk the following Thursday.
However, defeat at the hands of Hibs this weekend would surely signal the end for under-fire Martin, so should 49ers Enterprises already be making an ambitious move for an “outstanding” manager, one who would get the best out of Rangers’ best players?
Bojan Miovski's difficult start at Rangers
Bojan Miovski has only made two appearances in a Rangers jersey so far, but it is already clear that the team are not playing to his strengths.
The North Macedonian striker joined the club in late August from Girona for a fee that could rise to £4.2m.
He endured a pretty miserable spell in Catalonia, but was on fire when he was last seen in Scotland, scoring 44 times in 98 appearances for Aberdeen, four of which came against Rangers.
Against Heart of Midlothian last weekend, Miovski did miss one big chance, but touched the ball only 21 times, 12 Rangers players accumulated more, clearly not involved in general play enough.
He has previously proven that if you give him chances he will score goals, so could a change in manager transform the 26-year-old and help him rediscover his best form?
Rangers' dream Russell Martin upgrade
Matt Smith of Give Me Sport asserts that Rangers should replace Martin with Nuno Espírito Santo, which would certainly be a statement appointment should it come to pass.
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The 51-year-old was controversially sacked as Nottingham Forest manager earlier this month, following a public falling out with owner Evangelos Marinakis, who chose to appoint Ange Postecoglou as his successor.
Well, the early signs are that this wasn’t the wisest move, with Postecoglou losing his first two matches in charge, battered 3-0 at Arsenal, before Wednesday night’s complete collapse in the EFL Cup, 2-0 up at Swansea only to lose 3-2, conceding twice in injury time.
Commentator Adam Summerton praises the “outstanding job” Nuno did at Forest, with writer Henry Winter praising his “counterattacking style” that was so effective, able to make a team both compact and threatening in attack, something Rangers are neither right now.
When Nuno arrived at the City Ground in December 2023, Forest were in genuine danger of relegation, also hit with a four-point deduction, but he guided them to safety, before last season’s shock seventh-place finish saw them qualify for Europe for the first time in 30 years.
Overall, this was his seventh managerial role, boasting an impressive CV, as the table below documents.
Rio Ave
80
32
Valencia
62
32
Porto
49
27
Wolves
199
96
Tottenham
17
9
Al-Ittihad
53
37
Nott’m Forest
71
30
Among Nuno’s achievements, he has won the EFL Championship and Saudi Pro League titles, also leading Rio Ave to both domestic cup finals in 2014, as well as achieving back-to-back top seven finishes in the Premier League with Wolves, the club doing so for the first time since 1961.
He didn’t do quite so well in charge of Valencia, Porto and Spurs, but is a master at getting his team to punch above their weight, as was very much the case at Nottingham Forest last season.
So why would Nuno be the right man to get the best out of Miovski?
Well, using his Nottingham Forest side as the blueprint, their primary attacking threat came from wingers Anthony Elanga and Callum Hudson-Odoi driving the ball forward at pace, something Rangers’ summer signings Oliver Antman and Djeidi Gassama have already proven themselves capable of replicating, as this goal against Viktoria Plzeň during Champions League qualifying demonstrates.
This style helped Chris Wood enjoy a late-career renaissance that surely no one could’ve foreseen.
Last season, the New Zealander scored 20 Premier League goals, only Mohamed Salah, Alexander Isak and Erling Braut Håland managed more, beating his previous best-ever top-flight tally of 14, doing so as a 33-year-old.
Thus, if Nuno was able to implement his counter-attacking style, this could revitalise the attacking options Rangers have, and set them up for another deep run in the Europa League.
Having previously managed massive clubs in Portugal, Spain, Saudi Arabia and England, he would represent quite the coup, but most did expect the 49ers to target a big name when they arrived in the summer, so he would certainly galvanise the bereft and furious Rangers support.