There was a stunning change of events in Rangers' pursuit of a new manager over the weekend after Steven Gerrard rejected a return to Ibrox citing the 'timing' of the opportunity.
Pretty much for the whole week since Russell Martin's sacking after just 17 matches, Gerrard had been the frontrunner with the bookmakers. So where does his decision leave the club?
Next Rangers manager betting odds
According to latest odds Kevin Muscat is now the big favourite to replace Russell Martin at even money on bet365 (implied 50% chance).
Monday's favourite Danny Rohl was a big drifter overnight and is now a 7/1 chance on Sky Bet. Instead, Ole Gunnar Solskjaer is the big market mover at 5/1 on Ladbrokes.
Derek McInnes is back at 9/1 after a brief flurry of weekend bets, while Sean Dyche (rumoured to be on Forest's radar to replace Ange Postecoglou) is a big drifter to 20/1.
Head coach of Chinese Super League club Shanghai Port, the 52-year-old Kevin Muscat was previously with Japanese side Yokohama Marinos having spent the majority of his coaching career in his native Australia with Melbourne Victory.
He won both the A-League Championship (twice) and A-League Premiership. A 'hard man' from his playing days, Muscat was part of the Rangers side which won a treble of domestic trophies in 2002/03.
Solskjaer spent three years as Man United manager between December 2018 and November 2021, winning 54% of his matches and taking his side to the final of the Europa League. He has been out of work since leaving Besiktas in August after a brief 29-match spell.
Rohl, meanwhile, was among the favourites when the market opened last week and had seemingly been given a second chance by Gerrard's stunning change of heart.
The 36-year-old did an excellent job at Sheffield Wednesday before off-field issues begin to bite him and the club over the summer, leading to a likely relegation this season.
He left the club before the start of the campaign after spending the majority of the summer reportedly touting himself to potential suitors in the Championship, and even being linked with Rangers. The odds now suggest he is falling out of the running.
What happened with Steven Gerrard at Rangers?
Steven Gerrard had seemingly beaten competition from Dyche and Muscat, as well as others including Rohl, McInnes and Stephen Robinson.
Gerrard, 45, enjoyed a hugely successful spell as Rangers manager from 2018 to 2021, the highlight of which was an unbeaten championship season in 2020–21.
That 102-point campaign stopped Celtic from winning the title 10 times in a row and remains the last time Rangers (or anyone else) finished ahead of Celtic, who are chasing a fifth successive title in 2025/26.
Gerrard left Rangers for Premier League Aston Villa in November 2021 with a 64.8% win rate across all competitions and his reputation on the rise. A mixed spell at Villa and an unsuccessful period in the Saudi Professional League had seemingly not put off the Rangers board.
However, despite opening talks over a return - which are thought to have gone well - the 45-year-old has decided it is the wrong time for him to be coming back.
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Why was Russell Martin sacked as Rangers manager?
Russell Martin lasted just 17 matches in the job, losing six of those matches across all competitions. They were thumped in their bid to enter the Champions League proper, lost both of their matches in the Europa League and scored just six goals to gather eight points from seven league matches.
The day he took the job on 5th June, Rangers were a 2/1 chance to win the Scottish Premiership. Four months later, they are given just an 8% chance of winning the title at odds of 11/1 on Sky Bet.
A 1-1 draw at Falkirk was the final straw but in truth the writing had been on the wall for some time.
The only moderate surprise for some UK football fans will be that he failed to outlast Ruben Amorim at Man United or Ange Postecoglou at Nottingham Forest. His sacking came at a busy time of managerial change as Steve Bruce was given just 11 matches by Blackpool and Matt Bloomfield sacked by Luton.
Around two weeks passed between serious speculation first mounted about Martin's future as Rangers manager and then his subsequent sacking. The Gers had quickly exited the Champions League after an embarrassing 9-1 aggregate defeat to Club Brugge, a team which has hardly set the world alight since in the Belgian Pro League.
Rangers have subsequently lost both their Europa League group games to sit 32nd out of 36 sides in the table, while Sunday's draw at Falkirk left them 11 points off the Scottish Premiership pace after just seven matches, having scored just six goals (only Aberdeen and St Mirren have managed less).
List of Rangers managers since Steven Gerrard
| Manager | Dates |
| Giovanni van Bronckhorst | 18/11/21 - 21/11/22 |
| Michael Beale | 28/11/22 - 01/10/23 |
| Steven Davis | 01/10/23 - 15/10/23 |
| Philippe Clement | 15/10/23 - 23/02/25 |
| Barry Ferguson | 24/02/24 - 18/05/25 |
| Russell Martin | 05/06/25 - Present |
Steven Gerrard’s Record at Rangers
The best, and perhaps only, managerial success for Steven Gerrard has come in Glasgow, with the 2020/21 Scottish Premiership title.
That was his only trophy won in his three-and-a-bit-year stint at Rangers. During his time at the club, they played in 193 matches with Gerrard coming away with a 64.8% win rate and some excellent results in the UEFA Europa League.