Prior to taking full control of Leeds United a couple of years ago in July 2023, the 49ers Enterprises had been heavily involved in the recruitment of a new manager.
The takeover was bubbling away in the background and the Americans took the best part of a month to nail down the manager they wanted.
It was announced on June 2, 2023, that Sam Allardyce would be moving on, before Daniel Farke was finally announced as the man to take the club forward on July 4.
It’s a story — and a timeline — which is bound to ring a few bells for Rangers fans at the moment as the club continues its search for a new manager.
Speaking to people who were around Leeds at the time, as well as sources close to the Americans, what’s happening at Ibrox just now is not uncommon.
Senior figures at the 49ers Enterprises have made it clear that they won’t be rushed on anything, be it the completion of the takeover or the appointment of a new manager.
Davide Ancelotti is the odds-on favourite to become the next Rangers manager
Steven Gerrard enjoyed great success at Ibrox first time around and is not out of the running
Russell Martin has his admirers at Ibrox but could be in line to take the Leicester City hotseat
They are nothing if not thorough and diligent, an approach which extends across all areas of their business.
But at what point does due diligence become dithering indecision? It seems a fair question to ask given the lack of urgency around all of this.
We are not quite at the stage where this has turned into a saga, but we’re not far off it. The Rangers hierarchy are treading a fine line between diligence and dilly-dallying.
Some people will point to the fact that Philippe Clement was sacked all the way back on February 23, a time when the Americans were already in negotiations with the club.
But it’s not true to suggest that the hunt for a new manager began as soon as Clement was shown the door.
The Americans made it clear that, should the takeover go through, they wanted to restructure the club and appoint a sporting director.
As Mail Sport revealed exclusively last month, Kevin Thelwell was the man for the job and would be tasked with leading the recruitment process to find a new manager.
Kevin Thelwell’s first job in his new role at Ibrox is to deliver the appointment of a new manager
Gretar Steinsson of the 49ers Enterprises has also had a level of input, but, ultimately, the new manager is going to be Thelwell’s appointment.
Given that Thelwell was appointed in late April, it’s only really been over the past four weeks or so that the search for a new manager has really gathered pace.
But the fact Thelwell was still employed by Everton was another complicating factor, with his time at Goodison Park only concluding after the Premier League season finished last weekend.
When you factor in the takeover still rumbling away in the background, it’s clear that there’s a lot of moving parts to be considered at Rangers just now.
When they finished their season away at Hibs and it was announced that Barry Ferguson would be moving on, Mail Sport reported that Steven Gerrard was the frontrunner.
It was our information that contact had been made with Gerrard, he was highly regarded, and that further talks were planned towards the end of last week.
Incoming investor Andrew Cavenagh is set to fly in and oversee the final round of interviews
But that trail has cooled off over the past few days and it now seems like it’s Davide Ancelotti who is back in pole position to land the job.
When his father, Carlo, was unveiled as the new manager of Brazil a couple of days ago, Ancelotti Snr announced that his son was speaking to a European club and, as things stand, won’t be joining him.
No prizes for guessing who that European club might be. If the Americans decide they want something fresh, it’s understandable why the noise around Ancelotti has grown.
But, as argued in these pages only a couple of weeks ago when his name first emerged, it would be a massive gamble for Rangers to take the risk of appointing a rookie as manager.
Russell Martin’s name refuses to go away but it still looks more likely that he will become the next manager of Leicester City.
What’s clear is that Rangers can’t afford to dawdle around for much longer. It’s getting to the point where a decision has to be made in order to give the new manager the best chance of hitting the ground running next season.
Ancelotti worked with his legendary dad Carlo at Real Madrid, but won’t follow him to Brazil
The Rangers players are due back for pre-season on June 23. They will head to St George’s Park, home of the England national team, for a training camp in early July.
They will then face two friendlies at Ibrox against Club Brugge and Middlesbrough as they prepare for Champions League qualifiers beginning on either July 22 or 23.
Given the scale of upheaval expected, and the size of the job, there’s an argument that immediacy isn’t necessarily the most important aspect in the search for a new manager.
Rather than being rushed into an appointment, it’s more important that Rangers take their time and make sure they get the right man.
That is true, but not to the point where the process is allowed to drift and drag on. In order to give the new manager a chance to hit the ground running, Rangers need to wrap this up.
Some people have pointed to the fact that Ange Postecoglou was unveiled fairly late in the day by Celtic back in the summer of 2021.
It’s been three months since Clement was sacked and some fans are impatient for a successor
It was June 10 when Postecoglou was formally appointed. We are still a couple of weeks away from Rangers being in that kind of territory.
So it’s by no means a crisis or a disaster that the new man hasn’t been presented in the Blue Room just quite yet.
But we’re getting to a stage where, whether it’s Ancelotti, Gerrard or Martin, the new manager could be starting behind the eight-ball if this drags on much longer.
Top flight is richer with men like Martindale
Kudos to Livingston and David Martindale for their promotion back to the Premiership at the first time of asking.
Bouncing back immediately after relegation is not always an easy thing to do, as plenty of other clubs would testify.
Martindale and Livi are a welcome addition back to the top flight. For all people might bang on about their plastic pitch, they are a club who bring value to the table.
The triumphant Livingston players celebrate their remarkable play-off success in Dingwall
In Martindale, they have one of the most charismatic and quotable managers in the league. They have a very clear identity as a club and will no doubt cause a few shocks next season.
Martindale is a character. He speaks his mind and calls a spade a spade. He has also spoken very candidly about issues far more serious than football. He has shown a willingness to learn from his previous mistakes in life and to try and educate the younger generation on pitfalls away from football.
In this world of PR guff where so many players and managers are media-trained to say the square root of nothing, he is a breath of fresh air.
Honeymoon period at Ferrari is over for Hamilton
When Lewis Hamilton announced he was joining Ferrari for the new Formula One season, it was billed as the perfect marriage.
The most successful driver of all time would be joining the sport’s most iconic team. Seduced by the romance of the Prancing Horse, Hamilton no doubt envisaged winning an eighth world title in those famous red overalls.
But the prospect of him winning another world championship now looks further away than ever. His move to Ferrari is turning into a disaster.
Lewis Hamilton has cut an increasingly frustrated figure at Ferrari in recent races
At the Monaco Grand Prix last weekend, Hamilton finished in a distant fifth place, just over 50 seconds behind the victorious Lando Norris.
Hamilton, who had crashed out of the third practice session on Saturday, was also miles behind his team-mate Charles Leclerc, who was second behind McLaren’s Norris.
And there were more tense and tetchy exchanges between Hamilton and his team on the radio, with the seven-time world champion asking his race engineer at one point: ‘Are you upset with me?’
This is becoming a recurring theme. During the Miami GP earlier this month, Hamilton had again voiced frustration at his team on the radio about a perceived lack of urgency around team strategy.
‘Have a tea break while you’re at it, come on!’ said Hamilton. To hear him having a rant on the radio is not especially new.
Throughout his time with Mercedes, it was common to hear Hamilton having a pop at his long-time race engineer Pete ‘Bono’ Bonnington.
The Englishman’s joy at sealing a sprint race victory in China earlier this year was short-lived
The difference back then was that Hamilton was still winning races on a regular basis. He was in the best car on the grid, supreme machinery which led him to six of his seven world titles between 2014-2020.
His only taste of success this season came in the sprint race in China back in early April. But that looks to be an anomaly. In regular Grands Prix, he has yet to even finish on the podium in eight starts.
Hamilton was robbed of an eighth world title in 2021, losing out to Max Verstappen in controversial circumstances in Abu Dhabi. The prospect of him ever being back in a position to challenge again feels remote.
The romance around his move to Ferrari has faded. It’s a love story which looks likely to end in tears if poor results and fiery exchanges on the radio continue much longer.
