6 Worst Rangers Managers Ever
Rangers are one of the biggest football clubs in the UK. Over the years, they have had some great managers, that helped them in becoming the club they are today. However, they also had their share of disastrous managers. In this article, let us have a look at some of the worst Rangers managers ever.
Considering the impact, win percentage, playing style, dressing room atmosphere and fans’ opinion, here are the six worst Rangers managers ever.
6. John Greig
John Greig was voted The Greatest Ever Ranger in 1999 but his tenure as a manager was a terrible time in Rangers’ history. Greig would devote his entire senior career to the Ibrox side, making an astonishing 755 official appearances for the club between 1961 and 1978. He became the manager of the club after retiring in 1978.
Although he would fail to deliver a league title, he did take Rangers to a European Cup quarter-final and landed two Scottish Cups and two League Cups. His win percentage of 52.08 over five years as Rangers manager is also far from great.
5. Ally McCoist
Ally McCoist is another Rangers’ great who just didn’t reach the same height as a manager. McCoist returned to Rangers as an assistant manager to Walter Smith in January 2007. He was appointed as the manager of the club in 2011.
McCoist made a promising start to his managerial career winning his first 5 League games but disappointing exits in Europe and the League Cup as well as losing a 15 point lead to Celtic were negatives.
Rangers plunged into administration in February 2012 and from there, Ally had to endure horrific times as manager. Being demoted to the 4th tier of Scottish Football and having to work their way up plus further boardroom unrest led McCoist to announce his intention to resign in December 2014.
His overall win percentage during the tenure was 72.46, which is great, but most of those games were played in the lower divisions.
4. Mark Warburton
Mark Warburton was appointed as the manager of the then championship club, Rangers, in 2015. He was appointed with the primary objective of bringing Rangers back to the top division, which he achieved.
He was not able to cruise through the Premiership in the same way as in the second division. Warburton struggled against an Invincible Celtic side led by Brendan Rodgers and by Christmas were 19 points behind.
The club parted ways with him in February 2017 in difficult circumstances that are still not fully disclosed. He had win percentage of 65.85% during his time as Rangers’ boss.
3. David White
David White managed the club between 1967-1969. Davie White was the first Rangers manager not to guide the club to a major trophy. His two-year reign in the late 1960s coinciding with the most triumphant era in the history of their fellow Glaswegians Celtic.
His lack of experience was a factor in his downfall. Rumours of lack of respect from some senior players, and a hostile campaign by journalists, really hampered his progess.
He was under pressure from the get go and after a poor start in 1969-70, Davie White was sacked. He had a win percentage of 64.03%, which makes him one of the worst Rangers managers ever.
2. Pedro Caixinha
Largely unheralded Portuguese coaches have succeeded in British football before and perhaps the Rangers recruitment team were partly tempted by a trend which has recently seen Marco Silva and Carlos Carvalhal make a positive impression in England.
Pedro Caixinha was appointed as manager of the club in 2017, replacing caretaker manager Graeme Murty. Pedro Caixinha’s reign only lasted 229 days which is the shortest spell of any Rangers Manager and it was a very poor period for the club.
Caixinha had a chance to build his own team and bring in his own players but after the early Europa League exit to Luxembourg minnows Progrès Niederkorn made it difficult for the manager. He won 14 of his 26 games managed, with a win percentage of 53.85%, which is poor.
1. Paul Le Guen
Paul Le Guen became Rangers’ manager in March 2006. His arrival had been lauded as a revolution for Scottish football but it ended abruptly after dressing room mutiny.
He brought 13 new players to Rangers — including Dean Furman, Libor Sionko, Jeremy Clement, Lionel Letizi, Karl Svensson, Filip Sebo and youngsters William Stanger and Antoine Ponroy.
Le Guen’s team struggled domestically and by New Year’s Day, 2007, were 17 points behind Celtic and one behind Jimmy Calderwood’s Aberdeen. Rangers were also knocked out of a cup at home to a lower league team for the first time in history, losing 2-0 to Owen Coyle’s First Division St Johnstone.
A bust up with captain Barry Ferguson on the 1st of January 2007 saw a serious of events which brought about the end of Le Guen’s spell in charge. He had a win percentage of 51.61% in the 31 games he was in charge of the club.
Michael Beal not on here? he should be top of the list!