I know Rangers manager alternative directly, who was disappointed to miss out in 2023. Here’s what occurred next.

Craig Moore knows Kevin Muscat well and fears the Ibrox side missed a trick by opting for Philippe Clement

Kevin Muscat was ‘devastated’ to miss out on the Rangers job to Philippe Clement after interviewing twice – but now the ship has sailed on him ever returning to Ibrox.

That’s according to a man who knows him well and fears the Ibrox board may have missed a trick in bringing their former player back to the club. Rangers faced a crossroads after Michael Beale‘s sacking in October last year, and it was initially their former midfielder Muscat at the forefront. But in the end, the job was handed to Clement, who started well and threatened to take the fight to Celtic early on.

Muscat, then Yokohama F. Marinos manager after replacing Ange Postecoglou, took a different path. After winning the J-League in 2022 and finishing second in 2023, he took over at Shanghai Port in China, and currently has them top of the Chinese Super League after 24 games

But as Clement comes under fire after a rocky start to the season was compounded by a miserable defeat to Celtic, might Muscat have been the man they should have gone for? His former teammate and personal friend Craig Moore thinks so.

He told Go Radio: “He had two interviews at the time and he lost out and he was devastated to lose out at the time to Philippe Clement. He thought it was a great opportunity for him and it would have been a great job but Kevin now is doing a great job in China and that ship has well and truly sailed.”

Speaking back when Muscat was first linked, Moore admitted he was no neutral when it comes to his old Ibrox pal who he played alongside in the 2002/03 season. He said at the time: “It’s a hard one for me because I know Kevin Muscat well. He’s a great mate of mine. I’ve been an admirer of his work for a while. He’s gone into Japan and done a wonderful job. What people don’t understand over here, he got a squad that was Ange’ squad and they think it’s easy.

“They’ve got the ninth biggest budget in the J League – it’s a midtable budget. He won the league and the equivalent of the charity shield. They lost to Vissel Kobe last weekend so they’re sitting second in the table.

“He lost six or seven players over the summer that had to be replaced from within. So he’s punching massively. His teams play entertaining football, score goals and they create. He’s a great option for Rangers as far as I’m concerned.”