Steven Gerrard and Jose Mourinho tipped to battle it out for top European job

Rangers legend Ally McCoist has backed Steven Gerrard and Jose Mourinho as the top two candidates to take over his former club. The Scottish giants are in turmoil having been trounced in the Premiership title race by Celtic.

They in the fifth round by Championship Queen's Park, before being dumped out of the by Athletic Bilbao at the quarter-final stage.

The humiliation by Queen's Park , with former captain Barry Ferguson brought in as interim boss. Since his arrival at Ibrox, Ferguson has won four, lost four, and drawn two of his 10 matches in charge.

That mixed record means that Rangers chiefs . Two men who have been linked are Gerrard and Mourinho, with the latter having already expressed an interest in managing one of Scotland's Old Firm.

Gerrard meanwhile led Rangers to the Premiership titles as Invincibles in 2021, though his stock has taken a hit after disappointing spells in charge of and Al-Ettifaq. Despite that McCoist believes the duo should be the top candidates.

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"I think both could fit the bill in terms of stature and what they’d bring to the club and Scottish football in general. But they’d both need proper financial backing. The current squad just isn’t strong enough," he told .

"It’s absolutely vital that his [Gerrard's] next job is the right one. It didn’t quite work out at Villa or in Saudi. It’s similar to —his move to Coventry has been crucial in getting his managerial career back on track.

"Steven’s in that same position. His next step needs to be spot on. It has to be measured - it’s nothing like the resources down south. But there are markets out there. Celtic have done brilliantly with the Japanese market - signings like Hatate, Maeda, Kyogo.

"Rangers need to be more adventurous. Look at Scandinavia, or even the U.S. market. They can’t compete with the , but they can be smarter about recruitment."

The question of who will take charge of Rangers in the long-term is coming to a head, with just five games left of their season. Following his side's defeat in Bilbao, Ferguson called for his future to be made public soon.

"Where this leaves me now is I'm going to finish the season as strongly as possible," Ferguson said when asked about his future. "I've not sat down and talked about it - but it needs to get sorted soon because as a club we need to do a lot of work.

"The club needs to get back challenging. I just want my club to get back to where it should be, whether it's me or someone else. I was enjoying myself, but I got an opportunity not many people get. I would have been crazy to knock it back.

"All I was focused on was making sure the three months were as enjoyable as possible. My main objective is to make sure we get the club back to a strong position because this season has been way off what is required."

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