New signings on hold till manager confirmed

With chairman Dave King finally
back in the UK (he jetted in on Saturday) the critical process of appointing a
new manager has approached the business end, and Rangers have put player
signatures on hold until that manager is installed.

It has been well established on
Ibroxnoise.co.uk in recent days that the favourite is still Mark Warburton, but
with a speculative shortlist backing him up of Ian Cathro, Vitor Pereira,
Stuart McCall, Derek McInnes and Billy Davies.

McInnes has emerged as a more
serious contender of late, with Rangers bringing him into the equation
despite his contract with Aberdeen,
but in Rangers’ favour is the fact the former midfielder has proven himself at
Pittodrie in over two years of stewardship there and may be interested in a
bigger challenge at a bigger club.

Sources suggest ex-manager and
ex-non exec chairman Walter Smith is aiding in the selection process, which in
itself may be controversial given his judgement in the last manager he helped choose, but nevertheless his wisdom is not entirely unwelcome and he knows
Rangers better than anyone.

The new manager is mooted as
being appointed by the end of this week, but it is clear new players, while
identified, are not being fully pursued until the new manager is in place.

Rangers evidently want the new manager to
build his own team, and not inherit players he did not solicit.