The Record’s 7 VIP Ibrox next manager candidates certainly won’t be causing Celtic or Brendan Rodgers to lose any sleep

Late yesterday evening, Graeme Young of the Record rolled out HIS 7 VIP candidates for the Ibrox job.

Firstly, I’m just wondering what constitutes a “Very Important Person” when it comes to managerial candidates for the Ibrox job?

Because these guys, at the end of the day, are just football managers.

What makes them VIP’s?

I guess it must be something to do with being associated with such a glamourous job as the Ibrox job.

A VIP job for a VIP manager.

Or career suicide, whichever lens you wish to look at it through.

Because every manager who has taken the role as Ibrox manager since they crawled out of the grave of the old club, has effectively committed career suicide.

If you were to just look at the “6 VIP’s” who took the job since they entered the Scottish top flight in 2016, out of Mark Warburton, Pedro Caixinha, Steven Gerrard, Giovanni van Bronckhorst, Michael Beale, and Philippe Clement, just one remains in football management.

That is Pedro Caixinha, who is currently manager of Brazilian Serie A side, Santos FC.

In fact, Caixinha is an exception to the Ibrox career suicide rule, in that his career seems to have flourished since he departed Ibrox back in 2017.

The remainder of the coaches who managed the Ibrox side are no longer football managers.

I would be shocked if we saw Philippe Clement back in football management any time soon.

The others attempted roles at other clubs, which all ended in failure or the sack.

So, Young’s list of 7 “Very Important People” will firstly not cause anybody at Celtic to lose any sleep.

And secondly, all be in line to commit career suicide if they take the job at Ibrox.

With the exception of Steven Gerrard, who if he took the job, is too thick to accept he’s just a shite football manager.

He would be returning to try and relive the past glories of empty stadiums, and caffeine infused romps over Covid depleted sides who offered little resistance to his Ibrox steamroller of season 2020/21.

We all know how he achieved what he achieved that season.

He most certainly did not face a Celtic team or manager that is at the level of the current side.

In fact, if Gerrard knows what’s good for him, he’ll steer clear of Ibrox, and stay in the boozer, or on the golf course.

As for the rest of the candidates in Young’s list, which are as follows, Jose Mourinho, Marco Rose, Russell Martin, Sam Allardyce, Barry Ferguson, and Sean Dyche, Marco Rose is the only coach that would cause any concern.

Which in turn means, he’d be the least likely candidate for the job.

Mourinho, I already discussed in depth in an article last month.

Here’s what I had to say about him:

Now before I get to Gerrard, who is the main thrust of my piece, I’ll say a bit about Mourinho.

If, and this is a huge IF, Mourinho was enticed into taking the Ibrox job, I think it would be box office.

Not in a box office way for Ibrox fans, but for us Celtic fans.

If the takeover happens, and if Mourinho was given the job, it would be a surefire recipe for disaster.

As I said in previous articles, Mourinho is a has been.

His days as a serious football manager are over.

The fact that he was outsmarted by Barry Ferguson pretty much tells you that.

As I said, it would be box office, but box office in that he’d crash and burn spectacularly.

Celtic would have absolutely nothing to worry about if Mourinho got the job.

Russell Martin and Sean Dyche were both sacked from their respective positions as managers of Southampton and Everton.

Martin has effectively left Southampton to be relegated from the EPL, after his sacking late last year.

Dyche was given the boot from Everton having only won three of nineteen EPL fixtures.

They were 1 point above the relegation zone when he left.

Definitely nothing to worry about with those two.

The pressure of having to win all the time at Ibrox would cause them to crumble.

Sam Allardyce?

Well, what can you say about him?

A journeyman manager in his 70’s?

The failed Neil Warnock experiment at Aberdeen comes to mind.

So that just leaves Barry Ferguson and Marco Rose.

Marco Rose doesn’t strike me as the kind of football manager who is interested in committing career suicide.

He has just been sacked by RB Leipzig, and Brendan Rodgers already inflicted defeat on his side this season in the Champions League.

But he’s German, and German people are generally pretty intelligent.

I somehow doubt he’s even considering the Ibrox job.

Which just leaves Barry Ferguson.

We discussed Ferguson on our most recent Trinity Tims podcast, and I, like Joe, believe he’s going to get the job.

All the signs point to him getting it.

He’s the bookies favourite, he’s a real Raynjurz man, and he beat us.

The fans love him, and he’s being heavily pushed by the media for the job.

But, as we also discussed on the podcast, the Bazza bubble is about to burst.

We don’t want it to burst quite yet, although David Gray could take a step towards it today at Ibrox, but it will burst.

It’s only a matter of time.

The real “VIP” in the list of 7 is Bazza.

The rest of that list would be committing career suicide, and if they’re smart enough, they’ll know that.

Well, with the exception of Gerrard, he doesn’t really have a career to speak of to destroy.

Bazza, on the other hand, has NOTHING to lose.

Absolutely nothing.

If he crashes and burns at Ibrox, which he most likely will, he’ll just go back to being the nobody he was before this opportunity came along.

He’ll return to his job at the Record and on Go Radio.

Then Stevie G will most likely be stupid enough to take the role, because his ego won’t allow him to stay in the boozer, or on the golf course.

He’ll naively believe he can do something at Ibrox.

In reality, takeover or not, Celtic have nothing to worry about when it comes to the next Ibrox manager.

Because as we said on the podcast, it’s already set in stone.

It’ll be Bazza, followed by Stevie G.

Remember, you heard it from us first…

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