Ex Birmingham City coach branded 'perfect' Rangers boss, EPL man makes power of Celtic result clear

It was a good midweek in the Premiership for both Rangers and Celtic amid a busy week of fixtures.

The Hoops kicked off the midweek card at home to Aberdeen. A Daizen Maeda double combined with efforts from Jota, Callum McGregor and Yang sealed an emphatic 5-1 win that challenged Rangers to try and reduce the gap back to 13 points after it creeped up to 16.

During interim boss Barry Ferguson’s first game in charge, it was all going wrong against Kilmarnock and found themselves two down inside the first half. But a Vaclav Cerny strike, Cyriel Dessers double and Nedim Bajrami effort clinched a 4-2 comeback win at Rugby Park.

Action comes as Celtic march on towards another title while Rangers seek a new permanent boss, plus have takeover talk lurking in the background. Here are some of the latest headlines when it comes to the champions and the Light Blues.

Cole backed for Ibrox

One name who has received backing for the Rangers job on a full-time basis, perhaps out of left-field, is Ashley Cole. The former left-back is an England hero and shone as a player with both Arsenal and Chelsea. Since retiring, he has been a coach for Chelsea and Everton in the Frank Lampard era at both clubs and then the same role at Birmingham City under Wayne Rooney.

He now works as assistant boss at England under Thomas Tuchel. Joe Cole, a former England and Chelsea star, reckons the ex-Birmingham City and Everton coach could mix it at Rangers. He told The Dressing Room Podcast: "Where do they go, Rangers? I’m going to throw a name in there. He’s our guy, Ashley Cole. I’m going to throw him in. I know he’s got a great job working with the England Under-21s…

“Rangers had such a great spell with Stevie G, another ex-England legend, and I can see Coley going into that job. I worked with him doing a bit of media in a foreign country. We had the afternoon off and we were sitting on the sunbeds, ordered a couple of drinks, and I’m thinking, 'This is a good job, Coley, I’m enjoying myself!' I’m watching the world go by, 90 degrees, and he just gets his laptop out and he’s showing me throw-ins!

"The dedication… his dedication to football. We love him. But that would be perfect for him."

Celtic brilliance

The Hoops have had much praise for their Champions League endeavours this season. They progressed out of the league phase and were knocked out after a valiant effort vs Bayern Munich in the knockout round play-off stage. After a 7-1 thumping off Borussia Dortmund, Celtic then headed to Bergamo to face Atalanta for a battling 0-0 draw, who currently sit third in Serie A.

Axel Tuanzebe is now in the Premier League with Ipswich Town but did have time on loan at Napoli. He has underlined the brilliance of Celtic’s result in Europe when reflecting on his time in Naples, insisting every EPL side would struggle for a result. He told Lad Bible: Players ask me what it was like in Italy. We’re sort of trapped in a bubble thinking the Premier League is the best. Yeah, competitively, but in terms of pure talent and players...unbelievable. You look at Atalanta for example, you do not want to go to Bergamo and play them. It’s a long day. I promise you, every team in the Premier League if they went to Bergamo on their day they would struggle.”