Rangers AGM: Chairman Dave King promises new manager announcement soon

RANGERS chairman Dave King has promised news soon on the club’s managerial search after revealing the shortlist includes bosses contracted to other clubs.

King was speaking at the club’s annual general meeting, where he updated shareholders on the now five-week-old hunt for a new boss.

Graeme Murty has been in caretaker charge for five matches, the latest on Wednesday night when the favourite to replace Pedro Caixinha, Derek McInnes, saw his Aberdeen team suffer a 3-0 defeat at Ibrox.

King said: “Shortlisted candidates for the current vacancy include individuals currently with other clubs. We should have something to report shortly in that regard.”

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McInnes – who signed a new three-year contract in the summer – distanced himself from the speculation last week by saying he views his future at Pittodrie.

King rejected criticism of the time taken to find a new manager and said the chosen candidate would be handed a three-year deal in a bid to bring stability to the club.

The South Africa-based businessman said director Graeme Park was “falsely alleged to have had undue influence” in Caixinha’s appointment and insisted it was a unanimous decision.

The Portuguese failed to win three games in a row during his seven-month reign and presided over a costly and embarrassing European defeat to Progres Niederkorn of Luxembourg.

But King said the appointment had not been doomed to fail.

“All appointments are a risk,” he added.

In his statement, King said: “In my opinion, what would truly be wrong is if the board made a quick knee-jerk appointment without a thorough consideration of the options available at the time just because it appealed to certain sections of the media, or to some of the more outspoken supporters.

“The appointment of a manager is far too serious for us to endorse such a frivolous approach.

“The search for Pedro’s replacement has also been thorough and of appropriate duration under the guidance of Mark Allen, the director of football.

“Based on the manner of Pedro’s departure we had to first re-evaluate the criteria we required of our new manager prior to going through the detailed process that I have already referred to.”