Former Fulham and AFC Bournemouth boss Scott Parker was never a ‘frontrunner’ for the Rangers job with Kevin Muscat and Philippe Clement now the leading candidates.
That is according to talkSPORT presenter Alex Crook, having reached out to Scott Parker’s camp in order to gain a better understanding about reports suggesting the 42-year-old could take over at Ibrox.
Parker was viewed as one of England’s rising coaching talents not so long ago, after guiding both Fulham and Bournemouth to promotion. It’s fair to say his reputation has taken quite a beating since then, however.
The former England international was booted out of Bournemouth just three days after a historic 9-0 thrashing by Liverpool a year ago. His Club Brugge spell, meanwhile, lasted only a matter of months. Parker won just two out of 12 games at one of Belgium’s biggest and most successful clubs.
As such, with the likes of Kevin Muscat, Philippe Clement, Kjetil Knutsen and Pascal Jansen also under consideration, Parker was always likely to be an outsider for the Rangers hotseat, at best.
Scott Parker won’t get Rangers job
“Scott Parker was another contender,” Crook tells talkSPORT (10 October, 10am). “But we’ve reached out to sources close to him and I think he’s biding his time before he goes back into the dugout.
“I’m not sure he was ever a frontrunner for that (Rangers) job.”
It appears increasingly likely that the race to take over at Ibrox will become a two-horse sprint between Clement and Muscat, TEAMtalk reporting that they are the leading candidates as things stand. Clement is already in London for talks with chairman John Bennett and chief executive James Bisgrove.
Philippe Clement vs Kevin Muscat
Muscat, as they say, ‘knows the club’. He made his name at Rangers as an uncompromising, tough-tackling defender, but his free-flowing, Guardiola-influenced style of football as a manager could hardly be further removed.
Clement, meanwhile, won three league titles in Belgium (including two at Parker’s old employers Club Brugge) and guided Monaco to a third-place finish in France.
