Alex Rae believes the board would not be doing their jobs properly if they haven`t already considered Kille boss Steve Clarke as a potential managerial candidate.
His Kilmarnock side got their second win of the season over us at the weekend, and it`s got the ex midfielder thinking about him as a possible replacement for Graeme Murty at Ibrox:
‘I`d be extremely surprised if he wasn`t on their radar – in fact, if he isn`t then they`re not doing their jobs properly. The important thing is that there needs to be a clear plan moving forward. This a big time for the men running the club.’
He cites the club picking an interim manager after Caixinha`s sacking as a lack of forward thinking on Dave King`s part, and it`s certainly a fair point that this season has been essentially been used as a transition period by the club, rather than making any substantial progress in knocking Celtic off their perch.
Clarke`s appointment in October at Rugby Park has seen the team make huge strides in a very short space of time. As well as wins against us home and away, he gave our rivals a bloody nose when he inflicted only their second league defeat in two years back in February.
He is showing what can be done on a small budget, getting Killie up to fifth in the Premiership table. The question I have though is this just a short term upturn in the club`s fortunes? When he managed West Brom in the Premier League, he managed to get their highest finish in the top division in 35 years by finishing eighth. The following season, he was sacked with the club lying in 16th, with nine wins in his last 41 matches
A similar thing happened at Reading. He again started brightly by guiding the Royals to their first FA Cup semi-final in 88 years, but within a year he had been sacked after a run of poor results.
The Kilmarnock boss is certainly flavour of the month at the moment, but if we are planning for he longer term, as Rae suggests, would he be the best candidate in the summer as Murty`s replacement? Let me know in the poll.
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