A former Nottingham Forest and Derby County manager is ready to become his Rangers number two.
Sam Allardyce has left the door open to becoming the next manager of Rangers – if a Scottish boss comes in as number two.
The experienced Englishman has not been in the game since a short lived stint at Leeds United. Barry Ferguson is currently the interim caretaker at Ibrox until the end of the season after Philippe Clement was sacked as boss, sparking debate on who comes in next on a permanent basis.
Former Nottingham Forest and Derby County boss Billy Davies has been discussing the vacancy with Allardyce this week. He has suggested a bold plan where he comes in as Rangers assistant manager and with Allardyce in as the main man.
Former Nottingham Forest and Derby County boss Billy Davies has been discussing the vacancy with Allardyce this week. He has suggested a bold plan where he comes in as Rangers assistant manager and with Allardyce in as the main man.
Dream Rangers situation
Davies said on Allardyce’s No Tippy Tappy Football podcast: “I’m gonna give you one better. I’m gonna tell you that the best management team, in my opinion, for Rangers is Sam Allardyce, manager and Billy Davies assistant. That’s a dream ticket!”
That sparked the former West Ham United and Bolton boss into an emphatic reply as he opened the doors to becoming the main man at Ibrox: “Well, I’ll tell you what, if that happens, I’ll be there next season.”
Allardyce addressed the chances of him returning to management with talkSPORT earlier this year. The 70-year-old said: “Only if someone called and said ‘Sam, would you be interested in helping us and developing us in the right direction.’ I would see where it went from there. In terms of actively, I don’t ring up and ask for every job that comes available. If someone is willing to take on an old experienced guy like me now, then you never know.
Davies Rangers near miss
Preceding that shout to become the Ibrox assistant was the former Nottingham Forest and Derby County manager sharing a tale of how he missed out of the Rangers job previously. He claims to have been told that he was on for an interview but the call to discuss his credentials never came.
That gig eventually went to Pedro Caixinha who lasted less than a year. Davies added: “Yeah, my management company, Lee Doyle, the Superior Sports, got a call from John Gilligan, the director at Rangers in 2017. He informed the management company that I was in the running for the Rangers job, the club would like to do an interview, and the chief exec, Stuart Robertson, would call me the following morning, call the management company the following morning. The following morning came, and unfortunately, I never got that call, but we did have contact from the board member, and we were told that we would have an interview, but it never happened.”
As a player, Davies featured for Rangers alongside stints at St Mirren, Dunfermline Athletic and Motherwell, where he started his managerial career. From there he took on gigs at Preston North End and Derby County before managing Nottingham Forest over two spells. His first was 2009-2011 before returning between 2013-14 and hasn’t been in management since.
