Barry Ferguson has warned that the Rangers job is ‘not a project’ after the club were linked with a potential rookie boss in Davide Ancelotti.
Reports in Spain have suggested that Ancelotti, currently assistant to his dad Carlo at Real Madrid, is a frontrunner for the Ibrox vacancy, with claims he has been approached by the club.
Rangers have been quick to play down any notion that the 35-year-old has been offered the job, but have not denied he is under consideration.
Ancelotti has served as No2 to his father at the Bernabeu, as well as previous spells together at Bayern Munich, Napoli and Everton.
He has no frontline experience of his own as a manager, with many Rangers fans shocked to see his name associated with their club’s hunt for a new permanent boss.
Interim manager Ferguson admitted on Tuesday that he knew little about Ancelotti Junior, but stressed the need for any prospective new boss to hit the ground running next season and start winning immediately.
Real Madrid’s head coach Carlo Ancelotti and assistant coach – and son – Davide Ancelotti
Barry Ferguson seemed unimpressed that a rookie manager was being linked with Rangers
Davide Ancelotti has been an assistant to his dad but not a manager in his own right
Asked about the links to Ancelotti, Ferguson said: ‘I don’t know anything about him, if I’m being honest.
‘I know he’s assistant to his dad and his dad is one of the best managers. There’s always going to be speculation, there’s been speculation since I’ve come in.
‘I’ve no issue with that. That’s just the way it operates up here in the west of Scotland. All I can do is just focus on me doing the job as best as I can and we’ll see where it takes us.
‘One thing I will say is that it’s not a project. You need to start winning straight away. That’s it.
‘You don’t get time here. You’ve got the summer to go and build a new squad, whatever way you want to build it.
‘You need to go off to a very fast start and you need to make sure you win as many games as possible.
‘This club is built on winning and we need to start winning. That’s been the issue here and that’s clearly why there’s a number of managers that have lost their jobs over the years.
‘So Rangers need to get back to challenging and winning trophies. That’s there for everybody to see.
‘I’m not hiding anything and I’m sure that, with the changes that have been made, they [the prospective new owners] realise that. The supporters realise that.
‘I certainly realise it and it’s a big job – but it’s also a brilliant job to have. There’s a lot of work to be done and hopefully everything is starting to move.
‘We’ll hopefully see soon what’s going to happen.’
Sources at Rangers have insisted that any suggestion Ancelotti is on the brink of taking the job is wide of the mark.
The recruitment process is still in its early stages and will start moving once new sporting director Kevin Thelwell takes up his duties at the end of the season.
Mail Sport columnist Simon Jordan believes it would be a huge gamble for Rangers to appoint Ancelotti, given his lack of managerial experience.
Davide Ancelotti gives instructions to Real Madrid attacking midfielder Arda Guler
Speaking on talkSPORT, Jordan said: ‘The question is not if Davide Ancelotti has the chops to take a managerial responsibility, but whether he has the chops to help Rangers overcome Celtic. That is the debate Rangers need to have with themselves.’
Former Crystal Palace chairman Jordan continued: ‘If I am Rangers – and I haven’t interviewed the fella – I don’t know how charismatic and what his credentials are.
‘We have seen people who have been given really significant responsibilities, Paul Clement [previous assistant to Ancelotti at Chelsea and Bayern Munich].
‘He’s a great coach, he’s worked under great management at big football clubs. Stick him in the dugout as a manager, not so much.
‘Rangers, why? Why would you take this punt? Unless he is so impressive, and I do believe that the only subscription you have to anything is the credentials of what he did previously.
‘I don’t understand the first-time appointment. You take a risk, but this is Rangers, and all of the challenges at Rangers have brought them to this point, where the board is in disarray, the ownership is changing, expectations of the club must be rising.
‘Surely you have to parachute in somebody that is going to go: “See that other fella over there in the other (Celtic) dugout, I can deal with him, as long as you give me some resources, I can match him, close for pound to pound, and I can get you where you need to be”.’
Meanwhile, Ferguson expects some clarity on the club’s future plans over the next few days in terms of how things will move forward beyond the summer.
Speaking as Rangers prepare to host Dundee United at Ibrox on Wednesday night, he added: ‘In terms of the update on myself, look, that’s going to remain private.
‘But I’m sure you’ll see over the course of the next few days, hopefully there’s going to be a bit of movement because I’ve mentioned a number of times, it has to get moving in terms of who’s going to be the manager because of the pre-season coming up.
‘There’s players out of contract, players going back on loan, etc. So hopefully in the next few days we’ll be clear on what’s going to be happening.
‘There’s not been any discussions in terms of what’s going to be happening with myself.
‘What I do know is things are starting to move and hopefully, as I said, over the coming days or weeks, we’ll be really clear on what way the club’s going to move forward.’
