{"id":512277,"date":"2025-10-19T16:16:17","date_gmt":"2025-10-19T16:16:17","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/512277\/"},"modified":"2025-10-19T16:16:17","modified_gmt":"2025-10-19T16:16:17","slug":"kevin-muscat-to-rangers-engulfed-in-late-collapse-fear-as-deal-hits-potential-stumbling-block","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/512277\/","title":{"rendered":"Kevin Muscat to Rangers engulfed in late collapse fear as deal hits potential stumbling block"},"content":{"rendered":"

Sources close to the negotiations are now increasingly concerned that it could be on the brink of collapse, leaving Muscat in charge of Shanghai PortRangers chairman Andrew Cavenagh and Kevin Muscat<\/p>\n

Rangers\u2019 bid to appoint Kevin Muscat<\/a> appears to have dramatically stalled over the weekend.<\/p>\n

Record Sport<\/strong> understands the 52-year-old Aussie has been left in limbo despite agreeing in principle to take on the role as Russell Martin<\/a>\u2019s successor during positive discussions with owner Andrew Cavenagh<\/a> and vice chairman Paraag Marathe on Thursday.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s believed Muscat then entered into further talks with chief executive Patrick Stewart, sporting director Kevin Thelwell<\/a> and Gretar Stainesson of the San Francisco 49ers<\/a>.<\/p>\n

And it was during these conversations that the deal hit a potential stumbling block.<\/p>\n

Sources close to the negotiations are now increasingly concerned that it could be on the brink of collapse, leaving Muscat in charge of Shanghai Port where he still has one year left to run on his current contract.<\/p>\n

His side remains two points clear at the top of the Chinese Super League with just three games remaining after a breathtaking 4-3 win over Qingdao Hainiu on Friday<\/a>.<\/p>\n

It had been anticipated that Muscat\u2019s choice for a right hand man, Neil McCann, would step into the home dugout at Ibrox for Saturday\u2019s visit from Dundee United.<\/p>\n

Kevin Thelwell and Patrick Stewart(Image: Stuart Wallace\/Shutterstock)<\/p>\n

Instead, under 19s coach Stevie Smith was left to hold the first as Rangers dropped another two league points by scrambling a late 2-2 draw.<\/p>\n

Smith admitted afterwards to having no idea if he\u2019ll still be picking the team for Thursday night\u2019s Europa League clash against Brann Bergen.<\/p>\n

If, on the other hand, Muscat\u2019s deal is confirmed and ratified early this week then it\u2019s likely that his own staff will be in place in time for the trip to Norway.<\/p>\n

Muscat was planning on pulling together a backroom team made up of familiar faces with McCann as his assistant.<\/p>\n

He also hopes to bring countryman Les Gelis with him from Shanghai to head up the Ibrox medical department, taking on a role as head of high performance,<\/p>\n

German candidate Danny Rohl officially withdrew from the process last week after Muscat took over his position as the clear front runner, following his talks with Cavenagh and Marathe.<\/p>\n

And first pick Steven Gerrard<\/a> also asked to be ruled out of contention after expressing concerns over the club’s management structure.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Sources close to the negotiations are now increasingly concerned that it could be on the brink of collapse,…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":512278,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[10],"tags":[24753,160515,70133,26575,24579,1946,28104,1638,79,16,15],"class_list":{"0":"post-512277","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-sports","8":"tag-andrew-cavenagh","9":"tag-kevin-muscat","10":"tag-kevin-thelwell","11":"tag-paraag-marathe","12":"tag-patrick-stewart","13":"tag-rangers-fc","14":"tag-russell-martin","15":"tag-scottish-premiership","16":"tag-sports","17":"tag-uk","18":"tag-united-kingdom"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@uk\/115401732058091317","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/512277","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=512277"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/512277\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/512278"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=512277"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=512277"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=512277"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}