With Rangers fans now contemplating a future without Michael Beale (he’s not actually gone yet but it can’t be much longer) there’s a bigger question of who replaces him.

Let us be definitively clear – rookies are done at Rangers. We will not tolerate any manager who isn’t already an experienced hand and a winner in this game. This is why when John Eustace was farcically linked some weeks ago, Ibrox Noise protested that one and stated clearly that we won’t back him.

This also applies to any new candidate who is similar – who’s green around the gills and isn’t a known winner AS A MANAGER.

Forget Rino Gattuso – true, he’s taken now at Marseille, and he ‘took no nonsense’ as a player, winning tonnes, but as manager he’s been basically abysmal with every club he’s taken charge of. Napoli, Milan, Sion, OFI – forget his cup win at Napoli, the Italian cup is meaningless, it’s nowhere near the importance of the FA Cup or even Scottish. And that was the club he thrived best at.

So who have the fans been mentioning?

Graeme Souness, David Martindale, Kjetil Knutsen, Graham Potter, Kevin Muscat, Giovanni van Bronckhorst and one or two other names have popped up.

We’re just going to snap through these names and tell you what we think.

Souness:

Isn’t interested anyway. He was never our manager in the first place (Walter was, Souness admitted that), his managerial career wasn’t that good, just ok, and while he knows what Rangers are all about, and he’s definitely one of us, he’s not the right man for the dugout. He would be invaluable as a board member or such like, but as manager, no chance.

Martindale:

Absolutely one of us, and has punched a modest Livi above its weight for a long time, but a winner he isn’t. We need an experienced set of hands to guide us, and Martindale isn’t that. Maybe in the future if he starts to win stuff with another club, but no way for now.

Knutsen:

Isn’t clued up about Scottish football or Rangers, but is a winner twice with his Norwegian charges in the national league. At 54 he’s entering his peak years, and he will have his eye on a big gig in the future. But for now, we’re not sure he’s the right man.

Potter:

An exceptional manager who thrived with Östersund and took them all the way in Sweden from the fourth division to the national cup and second place in the top flight. Then he was ok at Swansea, sensational at Brighton (laying the foundations for where they are now) before it collapsed at Chelsea, the basket case. Is he a winner? A long time ago, yes, hasn’t won anything since 2017, but at the clubs he’s been at he had no chance. But Brighton can thank him in no small part for their UEL place. A great manager, but we’re not sure Rangers is the right place for someone not used to the utter pressure of winning.

Muscat:

In some ways the best choice, Muscat is a recent winner with two league titles in two countries, and he certainly knows the pressure of Ibrox. The problem is he plays expansive attacking football and we’re not sure that style fits at Ibrox given how badly so many recent managers have failed with it. But then, they weren’t winners, were they? Muscat is a great manager, whether he’s the right manager we’re not 100% sure, but he’s better than many of the options here.

GVB:

Did incredibly with what he had, and then was dumped horribly after Sevilla because of Aaron Ramsey. This guy was the biggest winner we’d had at Ibrox since Walter – FIVE trophies in three years at Feyenoord. And he nearly had the UEL to add to that. Wasn’t backed by the board and was given a ramshackle bunch of random signings and a terrible injury list. He had no chance with that. We will always admire him hugely, and Ibrox Noise, for one group, would welcome him back. Doubt he’d ever come though.

Can we drop the Neil McCann, Kevin Thomson and Barry Ferguson nonsense as well please folks…

Any others?