Former Newcastle United boss eyes shock managerial return at massive Europa League club

A disastrous campaign has resulted in the Teddy Bears falling 13 points behind bitter rivals Celtic. Losing at home to Scottish Championship side Queen’s Park to crash out of the cup triggered alarm bells around Ibrox.

That misery was compounded with another home defeat to St Mirren at the weekend - forcing Rangers chiefs to pull the trigger on Philippe Clement. With the title race all but done, one saving grace for Gers is the Europa League as they face Fenerbahce in a decisive round of 16 double-header next month.

Celtic’s dominance since Rangers’ liquidation in 2012 has proven a tough task for managers to overcome. Steven Gerrard remains the only Gers boss to topple the Hoops, when they went unbeaten throughout the 2020-21 campaign.

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However, former Newcastle United manager Pardew would not shirk the challenge despite last coaching in Britain seven years ago. Speaking to talkSPORT, the 63-year-old flirted with the idea of heading north. 

"I think you know any manager who's out of work would be interested in Rangers,” Pardew said. “It's a big club and you know, there's obviously noises from up there that all is not well and they do look some way away. I mean, I watched Celtic’s performance (against Bayern Munich) last week.

"I thought they were absolutely brilliant. I mean that's as good a Celtic performance I've seen maybe since they played Barcelona under Neil Lennon.

"They were terrific and they were very very unlucky. And not to take that into extra time, etc and maybe go through. But Rangers, I mean a home defeat for Rangers by St Mirren doesn't even sound right."