Ally McCoist details Steven Gerrard phone call after Rangers job U-turn

Ally McCoist admits one of his Rangers pals said they are "still spoiling my Saturday" even without playing after they missed out on appointing Steven Gerrard with talks over his return failing to result in a positive conclusion.

It leaves the Scottish side still looking for a manager after sacking Russell Martin, who was only appointed in the summer. Rangers have won just one of their seven league games and endured several embarrassing outings on the European stage.

They quickly identified Gerrard as their ideal candidate to take charge at Ibrox and talks were held in London over a return for the Liverpool icon. He remains the only man to win the Scottish title for Rangers in the last decade but ultimately decided the timing wasn't right.

It means Rangers are back to the drawing board when it comes to finding a new boss. McCoist, a legend and former boss at Ibrox, concedes his friends are being rattled by the troubled outfit even when they're not in action.

He was talking to talkSPORT presenter Jeff Stelling and said: "Do you know something? My mate phoned me on Saturday and he said: 'Rangers aren't even playing and they're still spoiling my Saturday!' I think Stevie Gerrard pulled out at about 7 o'clock, out of the manager's race for the position.

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"I said I fancied it to be his if he wanted it and he could get some arrangements and things like that, obviously. He had one or two things to iron out but sadly, that wasn't the case. And that was it, we're still on the hunt. It looks likely to be Danny Rohl but there's one or two other boys. Michael Carrick's come into the frame. The two of us, we're in a bit of a state, aren't we?"

Former Sheffield Wednesday boss Rohl has also impressed Ibrox bosses during the process and remains in the hunt for the job. He has been out of work since leaving the Owls in July and was contacted by Rangers in the summer before they ultimately decided to appoint Martin.

Rangers chairman Andrew Cavenagh - who led the US takeover of the club in the summer - and vice-chairman Paraag Marathe have been holding talks with various candidates. But the board are under serious scrutiny and have owned up to their mistake in the summer.

They said in a statement: "We know achieving these goals will take time, but our performances and results have not been good enough. We know you are frustrated - we are too. We did not get this right, and it’s our responsibility to fix it and get us back on track."

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