It’s hardly a secret but former Ibrox player Kevin Muscat enjoys a very close relationship with Celtic’s Ange Postecoglou drawing obvious scrutiny to his perceived place on the Rangers manager shortlist.
He was named as a prime candidate by BBC Scotland’s ‘Scottish Football Podcast’ as well as ex-teammate Alex Rae providing a glowing endorsement of his qualities.
Muscat played for Rangers for a season under Alex McLeish in the treble winning campaign of 2002/03 in which the combative full-back played a not insignifcant role in the league effort, amassing 22 appearances over the course of the season. That is one of the reasons as to why his name is in the hat so to speak, whilst the other key factor is his nationality and the resonance to the current football landscape in Scotland.
An Australian native fresh from title success in Japan with Yokohama F Marinos, following time in charge of Melbourne Victory in his homeland – that could be either Muscat or Postecoglou given their similar paths travelled which get us nearer to just how close the pair are.
A real bond and relationship exists in a situation where Muscat considers the Parkhead manager to be someone he looks upto and regularly contacts, as told by keepup.com in June, earlier this year:
“I consider Ange a friend and a mentor. A mentor is obviously someone you can unconditionally trust for council (sic).”
“We speak about things. Sometimes there will be messages when I wake up or in the middle of the night. He is always watching the games, always watching our games and likewise.”
That is not a dynamic that too many Rangers supporters would be confortable with, a new gaffer with a genuine link to his adversary across the city in what is such a hotbed of rivalry and passion.
Would Muscat even want to be in such a position? That remains to be seen, but at this stage it would be something of a surprise if he was to be an actual frontrunner for the vacant role.