49ers can forget Benitez by hiring new Rangers boss who’s impressed Pep

Glasgow Rangers made the big decision to part ways with Belgian head coach Philippe Clement last month after a string of disappointing results.

The former Club Brugge boss was relieved of his duties after a 2-0 defeat to St Mirren in the Scottish Premiershipbut it could have come after the Light Blues were beaten 1-0 by second tier outfit Queen’s Park at Ibrox in the SFA Cup.

Clement’s team were 13 points behind Celtic in the title race at the time and had already been knocked out of both domestic cup competitions, which may have made it a fairly simple decision for the board to make in the end.

However, they opted to go with an interim – Barry Ferguson – until the end of the season instead of attempting to find a long-term replacement for Clement before the summer.

Paraag Marathe, the president of 49ers Enterprises, and health insurance tycoon Andrew Cavenagh, who is executive chairman of ParetoHealth, are two key figures in a takeover that has reportedly been agreed in principle.

The appointment of a manager to lead Rangers into a new era may have been delayed until the summer to wait for the new ownership to come in, and they reportedly already have a vastly experienced boss in mind.

Rangers targeting Champions League winner

According to the Daily RecordSpanish manager Rafa Benitez is a target for the 49ers consortium as they eye a replacement for interim boss Ferguson ahead of the 2025/26 campaign.

The report claims that the prospective owners are considering a swoop for the former Liverpool and Everton tactician, who won the Champions League with the Reds in 2005.

It states that Benitez has emerged as one of the early contenders to land the big job at Ibrox, but that he is one of a number of names on the shortlist.

The Daily Record quotes their own journalist Scott Burns, speaking on Hotline Liveas saying: “It was suggested to me on Saturday that Benitez was one of the options Rangers were looking at. When I say Rangers, I’m told it’s very much the incoming new owners who would be looking at the next manager and I know he has started to look at options.

“I was told that Rafa Benitez was one they were going to talk to. I spoke to a colleague who is very close to Rafa Benitez and his agent and they had said there had been no contact at all.”

This suggests that the 49ers are still very early on in the recruitment process, given that they are yet to speak to Benitez, and this means that there is plenty of time left for them to assess other candidates.

Why Rangers should forget about Rafa Benitez

Whilst the Spanish boss, given that he has worked for Real Madrid and Liverpool, would arrive at Ibrox as a big-name to kickstart a new era under the 49ers, he may not be an ideal fit for what Rangers need.

The Light Blues may need a manager who can install a dominant style of play that will allow them to compete with Celtic for the league title next season and beyond, whilst also progressing in cup competitions.

Benitez has not won a top-flight title since lifting the LaLiga trophy in 2004 with Valencia, and his last domestic cup win came in the Italian Cup with Napoli in 2012.

Since 2016, when he was appointed by Newcastle, the 64-year-old boss has failed to average more than 1.48 points won per game for any of the clubs that he has managed, including the Magpies, DL Pro, Everton, and Celta Vigo.

As you can see in the brilliant video by Tifo football above, Benitez has been a pragmatic manager in recent years, playing a conservative, and what could be described as defensive, style of play to suit the teams he has been in charge of, which is reflected in his low points-per-game returns.

Rangers, as a club that should want to dominate games and consistently win matches and trophies, should look for a head coach who can deploy a dominant style of play, which is why they can forget about Rafa by swooping for Russell Martin instead.

Why Rangers should appoint Russell Martin

Football Insider reported in January that the former Scotland international is one of a number of names on the club’s shortlist of potential options, and the 49ers should consider an approach for his services.

Firstly, Martin is currently out of work after being let go by Southampton and this means that Rangers would not have to shell out compensation money to take him from another club.

The 39-year-old tactician, who spent time on loan at Rangers in 2018, also fits what the Scottish giants should be looking for in terms of a dominant and progressive style of play.

As you can see in the video above, Martin did a fantastic job with MK Dons in League One at the start of his career, creating a front-footed and progressive team.

He eventually landed the Southampton job in the summer of 2023 and led the Saints to promotion to the Premier League, via the play-offs, before losing his job in the top-flight this season.

Depsite being sacked, Martin earned plaudits for the way that his team set-up. Manchester City boss Pep Guardiola claimed he will “learn a lot” from the Scottish manager’s tactics, whilst Arsenal manager Mikel Arteta described Martin as a “hugely successful” coach whose teams are a “joy to watch”.

The former Rangers defender typically deploys an attacking 4-3-3 system and has the coaching ability to put out a team that can consistently create chances to win matches, when he has the players to do so.

As you can see in the table above, Martin’s Southampton side were one of the most progressive, front-foot, teams in the Championship, which led to them earning promotion to the Premier League, and they earned more points per game than any of Benitez’s teams since 2016.

He was then tasked with managing in a completely different manner, as he had players at the lower end of the quality scale in the top-flight, and that did not suit his style of play – leading to his eventual dismissal earlier this season.

Rangers, however, consistently compete for titles and trophies, albeit with little success this term, and this means that Martin’s dominant and progressive style of play would be well-suited to the environment at Ibrox.

Therefore, the former Norwich City defender would be an ideal fit for the Gers and someone who could create an exciting style of play for the supporters to get behind, which may not be the case for Benitez when you consider how his career has panned out over the past decade or so.

The 49ers must, now, forget about any potential swoop for Benitez this summer and, instead, pursue a deal to bring Martin to Glasgow for next season and beyond.