'Surprising' Rangers return has club legend voicing pride at coaching role as permanent Ibrox job prospects addressed
The former Dundee manager is loving being back involved at his old club as part of Barry Ferguson’s interim coaching staff
Neil McCann has declared how returning to Rangers in a coaching capacity is something he’s “very proud of” as he addressed the prospects of becoming a permanent member of Barry Ferguson’s staff going forward.
Former Dundee boss McCann, who lifted NINE trophies at Ibrox during his playing career between 1998 and 2003 including three league titles, returned to Govan as part of interim boss Ferguson’s backroom staff until the end of the campaign, alongside fellow ex-teammate Billy Dodds and legendary goalkeeper Allan McGregor in February.
The quartet have transitioned into their respective roles seamlessly as they attempt to save what is left of the Light Blues’ season and have guided the Ibrox side to four wins from their five league games including an Old Firm derby win over Celtic and beat Jose Mourinho’s Fenerbahce to progress in the Europa League.
“Surprised”, McCann said in his his press conference on Friday when asked how he felt after Ferguson called him about joining his coaching team. “I didn’t expect it to be coming. And then of course the question when I got a phone call on Monday from the club to say would you be interested then clearly there’s an excitement there.
“And it’s not an opportunity I thought was going to come but I couldn’t wait. I literally couldn’t wait to get into work. And it’s been like that since the start. It’s early starts, it’s late finishes but it’s so good.”
Rangers still trail Brendan Rodgers’ Hoops by 13 points in the title race, but they do have a European quarter-final tie against Athletic Bilbao on the horizon with the first leg taking place at Ibrox next week following their Premiership clash against Hibs on Saturday.
McCann, who was working for Sky Sports before returning to Rangers, acknowledged the importance of making changes for the benefit of the squad to the way that previous manager Philippe Clement had instilled.
Quizzed on whether his short stint back in the dugout and time out on the training pitch has given him a spark to return to management again or if he would be happy to return to his punditry duties, McCann replied: “I love the whole strategy and management. I’ve loved my time already and being part of Rangers is something I’m very proud of.
“I was a player and now I’ve been given the chance to come back and put the badge back on again as part of the coaching team. But if I need to go back to punditry I’ll give it 100% as well.”