The path clears for Rangers to announce Steven Gerrard after update
Rangers’ path to appointing a new manager to replace Russell Martin now looks to have cleared with Derek McInnes’ thoughts on taking the job now having been revealed.
Rangers‘ poor start to this season saw doubts immediately surround Russell Martin‘s suitability for the head-coach role, and a 1-1 draw to Falkirk over the weekend was the final straw for the club’s fans and hierarchy.
Martin was sacked as Rangers boss on Sunday (5 October) not long after the final whistle in that game, with the search now underway for his successor and a number of names being publicly linked with the job.
Football Insider revealed on Monday (6 October) that Steven Gerrard would jump at the chance to return to Rangers, having previously managed at Ibrox between 2018 and 2021, while the likes of Danny Rohl, Kevin Muscat and Hearts boss Derek McInnes are also believed to be in the running.
McInnes’ Hearts side currently sit top of the Scottish Premiership with six wins from their first seven games, and a new reveal around his future at Tynecastle Park shows that Rangers now have an obvious choice to make when it comes to their next head-coach.
Gerrard is the outstanding candidate with Derek McInnes out of the running
McInnes was linked to the Rangers job towards the end of last season prior to Martin’s appointment, with his experience in the Scottish top-flight believed to be admired by Ibrox chiefs.
That will certainly not have changed over the last few months, considering his stellar job done with Hearts since he arrived as their new boss in May, but it looks as if the 54-year-old has no interest in moving to Glasgow as yet.
According to a new report from The Edinburgh News, McInnes has reassured higher-ups at Hearts that he is committed to the club and keen to build for the future following their great start to the 2025-26 campaign.
| Games managed | Wins | Draws | Losses | Points per game |
| 503 | 229 | 115 | 159 | 1.75 |
The report states that McInnes, who played for Rangers between 1995 and 2000, has no intention of leaving the capital club right now, and he wants to be part of their long-term plans with new investor Tony Bloom of the belief that Hearts can win the Scottish Premiership soon.
With him out of the running, Rangers now have a really clear call to make in hiring Gerrard as their new boss.
McInnes should have been a close second-favourite for the job among Ibrox chiefs, but now that he cannot be hired, Gerrard clearly stands out among other potential options like Rohl and Muscat.
The Liverpool hero is still held in very high regard at Rangers after he led the club to Scottish Premiership glory in 2021, which is their only title win in the last 14 years.
Sky Sports (8 October) have reported that Gerrard is set for talks this week about a potential return to Ibrox, but he is not thought to be the only candidate under consideration and several other options have also been identified.
If McInnes is not set to be available, then the Gers’ chiefs should be wasting no time in appointing Gerrard as they look to return to the summit of the top-flight and compete with Celtic once again.
McInnes’ defence of Russell Martin shows that he understands Rangers
Martin’s ill-fated tenure at Rangers was the shortest of anyone in charge of the club in history, and one of his 17 games at the helm saw McInnes’ Hearts go to Ibrox and come away with a 2-0 win last month.
McInnes spoke to the media about the sympathy he had for Martin and the task at hand at Ibrox, saying: “It’s so unfair on him. This stage of the season, it is still early on and even if we were at the bottom end of the table and working towards our best form, I would be looking for that kind of patience and all the rest of it.
“Russell Martin is a good man and a fine manager. When clubs like Rangers aren’t winning games of football it is more than just the manager.
“I enjoyed my team and winning the game but I didn’t enjoy that part of it one bit. It’s so unfair that.”
It is clear that McInnes understands what it means to manage and represent the Gers, especially since he played for them, but those quotes may also have put the board off of hiring him regardless, since he was clearly indirecting at their shortfalls over the summer.