Rangers chairman Fraser Thornton and finance chief James Taylor were snapped arriving at Auchenhowie as Barry Ferguson makes his emotional pitch for a return to Ibrox.
Record Sport revealed the legendary captain is the man power brokers have identified as who they want to take the reins until the end of the season after axing Philippe Clement. Ferguson is keen on Neil McCann to join him until the end of the campaign with Billy Dodds another in the mix. Ferguson is set to meet chairman Patrick Stewart on Monday.
And Thornton and Taylor were among the big names heading into the Rangers Training Centre alongside a host of downbeat first-team stars including John Souttar and Vaclav Cerny. Rangers are out of both domestic Cups and are 13 points behind Celtic in the Premiership table. Now Ferguson stands on the brink of returning to the club he loves 15 years after exiting for a second time as a player.
Rangers legend Ally McCoist reckons the next boss will be inheriting a “weak” team who are miles behind Celtic. McCoist, speaking to talkSPORT, said: “Miles behind them (Celtic). It is a good job if you get backed, the recruitment has been shocking, it really has. You look across the city. The one thing you have to do as a Rangers manager, you have got to beat Celtic, if you are a Celtic manager, you have got to beat Rangers. It’s relatively simple, to be a success, you have got to beat the other team.
“Rangers, sadly, even including the very comfortable 3-0 win against Celtic a few weeks back, are a good way behind Celtic on and off the pitch. I know Celtic got beat at the weekend. They put in a good performance in Munich and deserved to go to extra time. The gulf between the two clubs, at this moment in time, is massive. So anyone going in there is going to have to take the whole place by the scruff of the neck and give it a right good shake.
“They are going to have to get backed by new owners, who financially back the new coach. The money which has been spent, you could name individuals, Cortes, people like that, it’s millions of pounds, millions of pounds, have been effectively thrown away. I know the lad got injured. The players coming in have not been of a good enough standard.
“What the fans are finding it difficult to accept, and I am with them 100 per cent, is a lack of fight and lack of desire. The Rangers football team on the pitch is weak and I wouldn’t mind playing against it, to be quite honest, it’s a team you would love to play against because there is a weakness about it on the pitch and, sadly, off the pitch at this time as well.”