'I wish' - Rangers cult hero reveals why Ibrox managerial return would be 'happiest day of my life'
The Spaniard has recently completed his UEFA Pro Licence and is currently head coach of Real Murcia’s B team
Carlos Cuellar has built up a special bond with Rangers supporters and the football club during his time in Glasgow - which is why he is now targeting a shock return in the near future.
The Spanish defender - who was lauded as ‘King Carlos’ by the Ibrox faithful during his one full season in Govan - entered the coaching and managerial world after recently completing his UEFA Pro Licence.
Currently in charge of Real Murcia’s B team, Cuellar has mapped out his plan to enter the next phase of his career in football. And he’s sensationally revealed his dream of becoming Light Blues manager in the future.
Despite his limited top-tier experience as a boss, Cuellar admits his deep connection with the Gers was forged during his stellar 2007/08 campaign, in which he was named as the SPL ‘Player of the Year’.
Asked in an interview with the Scottish Sun what he’d do if the Rangers chairman phoned and offered him the job, he responded: “I wish! It was my dream, to be honest. You realise how big it is when you are inside it. You knew.
“You realise and you even understand how big it is from the outside to be inside before. To be honest, that day – I wish. Fingers crossed it happens. I would cry for sure because it would be one of the happiest days of my life.”
Cuellar spent four years with Aston Villa under legendary Celtic boss Martin O’Neill after departing Rangers for £7.8million, but the Spaniard almost re-joined the Glasgow giants in 2011 before the deal fell through in dramatic circumstances.
Discussing his aborted return, Cuellar explained: “I wanted to go back. But the problem was, in this summer, I got injured in my knee. It wasn’t a big injury, it was the meniscus but I had to be like two months out.
“Alex McLeish was the Villa manager and he told me I was not going to be an important player for him, he was looking for another kind of player, like is normal in football. I got the knee injury and I didn’t move.
“In the beginning, other teams come and Rangers came in. The problem was that Rangers had to wait one and a half months for me to play. They were playing in Europe and they needed a centre-back for the moment, they couldn’t wait that much because they were fighting for Europe and starting the league.
“That’s why I didn’t. If I was fit, I was going the next day because the deal was done. They were thinking about the injury and in the end when I recovered, I played with Villa. In football, you never know. I say to my players now, even if the coach says you are the third option, you have to be ready and show you are the first.
“That’s what I did, I started to recover after two weeks and I started to play. But if I wasn’t injured, we could be talking about another live in Rangers for the second time.”