THE opportunity to manage Rangers, even on a temporary basis, proved too appealing for Stuart McCall, who was out of work at the time after departing Motherwell, to turn down two years ago despite the difficulties his former club was experiencing.
Yet, the brief and ultimately ill-fated spell which McCall spent in charge at Ibrox at the end of the 2014/15 season was what denied him the chance of taking over permanently.
His chastening experience should serve as a warning to Alex McLeish, or anyone who is eyeing the position vacated by Mark Warburton on Friday covetously, that being brought in temporarily has its pitfalls.
McCall managed to lift an ageing and underperforming squad which was demoralised after the departure of first Ally McCoist and then Kenny McDowall and was responsible for a significant improvement in the closing stages.
Yes, a 2-2 draw with Falkirk at Ibrox prevented them from finishing second in the Ladbrokes Championship. But difficult play-off matches against Queen of the South and Hibernian were duly negotiated.
However, the sorry 6-1 defeat to Motherwell in the two-legged final – two games too far for a mediocre and overplayed group of players - brought an end to McCall’s hopes of landing the job in the longer term and he was promptly patted on the back, thanked for his services and overlooked.
Whoever takes over from Mark Warburton, who parted company with Rangers is controversial, if not downright bizarre, circumstances on Friday evening, will be inheriting a far superior squad than McCall did. That would not be difficult.
But if doing well between now and the end of the 2016/17 campaign is to be used as a guide to whether an individual deserves to get the job full-time, if finishing second in the Premiership above Aberdeen is a prerequisite, then prospective candidates should be wary.
There is no guarantee that this set of players is capable of finishing runners-up in the top flight, or even, for that matter, securing third place and a Europa League spot.
Hearts, despite their failure to beat Hibs at Tynecastle in the fifth round of the William Hill Scottish Cup yesterday, appear to be in the ascendency under their new manager Ian Cathro and lurk ominously just six points behind.
Being in the dugout as Rangers scrap to be best of the rest with another manager’s players could do irrevocable damage to a candidate’s job prospects.
Being on the receiving end of defeats to Celtic in the two remaining Premiership games against the Parkhead club in particular would result in fans turning against the man who is brought in to stabilise the club and lead the team in large numbers.
The lack of two dependable centre backs, as was witnessed once again in the narrow 2-1 win over Greenock Morton yesterday, would be a serious issue to anyone taking over.
Of course, this being professional football, where there is never any shortage of talented managers desperately trying to get back into work, there be an abundance of candidates.
McLeish, who yesterday refused to rule himself out of the running for the role when he appeared on Sky Sports before the game against Morton, has been installed as the bookmakers' favourite to take over from Warburton.
He ticks many of the boxes the Rangers directors will be looking to tick – he is a vastly-experienced manager, has a strong affinity with the Ibrox club and is also, crucially, available for free having been unemployed for eight months.
But if McLeish, who won two titles and a domestic treble in the five years which he spent in the dugout at his boyhood heroes between 2001 and 2006, would like to get the job again permanently he should think long and hard about taking over between now and the end of the season.
And another thing . . .
Celtic, undefeated domestically and 27 points clear at the top of the Ladbrokes Premiership, can set a European record for the most comprehensive league victory this season if they can win by more than 31 points.
That is the margin which Paris Saint-Germain triumphed by in Ligue 1 last season - beating the 29 points that Celtic won the Scottish title by back in the 2013/14 cam-paign.
Yet, there has been quite a turnaround in the French top flight this term. Monaco, who finished third last season, are currently three points ahead of the defending champions after 25 games.
So should this performance by the principality club give Rangers, and indeed Aberdeen, hope that they can bridge the gap with Celtic at the top of the Premiership in the near future?
Well, no, not really. Bankrolled by Russian billionaire Dmitry Rybolovlev, Monaco are among the biggest spenders in world football. Radamael Falcao, who scored two goals in Monaco’s 5-0 win over Metz on Saturday, cost a club record €60 million.
Monaco obviously operate at a far higher level, both financially and in a sporting sense, than Rangers. But their success in challenging Saint-Germain’s dominance of French football – the Parisian club have won four consecutive titles – underlines that in modern football money is key.
There is little hope of Rangers catching Celtic until such a time that they can lavish the same sort of sums on transfer fees and wages.
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