It is the dawn of a new era for Glasgow Rangers after Andrew Cavenagh and 49ers Enterprises officially completed a takeover of the club last week.
They have immediately invested £20m into the club and will now oversee the search for the team’s next head coach, after Barry Ferguson stepped away at the end of the 2024/25 campaign.
The former Scotland international was appointed as the interim boss after Philippe Clement was dismissed in February, and he only won six of his 15 matches in all competitions in the dugout at Ibrox.
Ferguson, whose team was held to a 2-2 draw by Hibernian on the final day of the Scottish Premiership campaign, failed to do enough to convince the board that he was the man for the job moving forward.
The 49ers and new sporting director Kevin Thelwell are now tasked with finding a manager who can bring glory back to Ibrox, after four seasons without a Premiership title.
One of the first items on the agenda for any incoming Rangers head coach should be convincing Nicolas Raskin to remain with the Gers beyond the summer.
Why Nicolas Raskin could leave Rangers
The Belgium international could move on from Ibrox in the summer transfer window, as Premier League clubs Aston Villa and Leeds United are both reportedly interested in the central midfielder.
Raskin has attracted interest from elsewhere due to his impressive performances for the Gers during the 2024/25 campaign, which led to him winning the club’s Men’s Player of the Year and the Men’s Players’ Player of the Year awards.
The 24-year-old star was deemed to be the best player at Ibrox this season and there are now teams who want to test how he would adapt to Premier League football next term.
Rangers, however, should be doing everything in their power to keep hold of the Belgian talent during the summer transfer window, because they will need as much quality as possible to finally beat Celtic to the Premiership title.
The former Standard Liege star is tenacious out of possession, as he averaged 3.4 tackles and interceptions per game and won 57% of his duels in the league this term, but the Light Blues star also provides plenty of quality on the ball.
Appearances
33
Touches per game
68.4
Goals
4
Big chances created
9
Assists
10
Pass accuracy
87%
Dribbles completed per game
1.0
Dribble success rate
68%
As you can see in the table above, Raskin is a player who thrives on the ball with his ability to both score and create goals from a central midfield position, whilst being efficient as a passer and a dribbler.
This suggests that the Belgian star would, therefore, love a manager who is committed to a ball-dominant style of play, which is why he should be pleased with the latest update on the Rangers manager search.
The latest on Russell Martin to Rangers
According to the Daily Mail, former Southampton head coach Russell Martin is one of the ‘main contenders’ to land the vacant managerial position at Ibrox.
The report claims that the former Scotland international, who had a loan spell with Rangers during his playing career, and Davide Ancelotti are the two main contenders for the role.
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It adds that Francesco Farioli, who recently left Ajax, and Brian Priske, most recently of Feyenoord, are also still in the running, but they are not as high up the list as Martin and Ancelotti.
The Daily Mail claims that the ex-Saints head coach was set to fall out of the race for the Rangers job when he was being lined up for the Leicester City position, but they have yet to sack Ruud Van Nistelrooy, so he remains in contention to replace Ferguson at Ibrox.
Appointing Martin as the first head coach of the 49ers era could be good news for supporters who want to see Raskin remain at the club, as the central midfielder could be a perfect fit for the Scottish tactician.
Why Nicolas Raskin would love Russell Martin
Analyst John Walker hailed Martin’s style as “exciting” and “total football”, due to the ball-dominant nature of how he wants his teams to play, and that could suit the Belgium international perfectly.
As aforementioned, Raskin is a technically brilliant footballer who constantly looks to make things happen from a central midfield position, with passes, dribbles, goals, and assists, and he could have plenty of chances to influence games in this manager’s system.
The clip above, from his time at MK Dons, is a flavour of the way Martin’s teams play, with plenty of short passes under pressure and movement off the ball to provide players with multiple passing options at all times.
Raskin would be a perfect fit for the way the ex-Norwich City and Rangers centre-back likes to coach his sides, because of his dynamism off the ball and his quality in possession.
Pass accuracy
87.7%
1st
Passes into the penalty area
594
1st
Progressive passes
2556
1st
Shot-creating actions
1255
1st
xG
79.8
2nd
Points per game
1.89
4th
As you can see in the table above, Martin successfully deployed a possession-based system to get Southampton promoted out of the Championship in the 2023/24 campaign, building a team that was incredibly dominant when it came to passing forward and creating high-quality chances.
These statistics suggest that Raskin, who created nine ‘big chances’ in the Premiership, would thrive in his system as a midfielder who would constantly have chances to dictate play and create even more opportunities for his teammates with the dominance that the style of play creates.
Therefore, the Belgian midfielder could be more inclined to stay at Rangers for another year because of the prospect of thriving in a side coached by Martin, as it could help him to take his game to the next level ahead of a bigger move next year.
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