SPL: Contenders to replace Rangers' boss Advocaat

Dick Advocaat has at last confirmed Rangers are searching for his successor in the Ibrox hot-seat.

We look at the front-runners for one of the most high-profile jobs in British football.

Alex McLeish

The Hibernian manager is the number one tip on the basis that Advocaat is looking to stay on as director of football and advise a younger coach, who will take over team affairs.

Although this has yet to be confirmed, McLeish certainly fits the bill.

He took Hibernian to the cup final last year, and for much of that season his side were challenging Rangers in the league. They were also the only club to hold Celtic to two draws.

McLeish is a Glaswegian and was brought up supporting Rangers so will have no trouble understanding the magnitude of the task.

Although he has been a manager for only a few years beginning at Motherwell as player-boss he has shown himself to be a good buyer of players.

But the fact that Hibernian are struggling to reproduce last season’s form may count against him.

George Burley

Chairman David Murray may feel under pressure from the supporters to appoint a Scotsman, and of the younger generation it is Ipswich boss Burley who is enjoying success in England.

Ipswich stood by him after a number of play-off near misses, and he rewarded them by taking them into the UEFA Cup at the first attempt once the Premiership was finally reached.

The Blues famously beat Inter Milan last month before being knocked out in Italy - but this season Ipswich are struggling in the Premiership.

Bertie Vogts

The man who guided Germany to the Euro 96 trophy is still an international manager - but in the footballing backwater of Kuwait.

His name has already been linked with the vacant Scotland job, and it may be that he is keen to get back into Europe rather than Rangers regarding him as their number one choice.

George Graham

Looking to get back into football after an acrimonious sacking by Spurs and has made it clear he feels he has one more big job left in him.

But if Advocaat stays on it is difficult to see how the pair would work together, because they are of the same generation and Graham is no fan of the role of director of football - a position he sees as too undefined.

He would probably be able to tighten up Rangers’ erratic defence. But his teams are not noted for their attacking style and that is at odds with what is demanded by the Ibrox faithful.

Louis van Gaal

Advocaat was linked with the Holland job once van Gaal stepped down in the wake of their surprise failure to qualify for even the World Cup play-offs.

The Rangers manager made it clear he did not want to take up that role again, but it is not inconceivable van Gaal would join him at Ibrox.

The two know each other well, and van Gaal has a CV with Barcelona on it - although that spell also ended unhappily for him.

Few Rangers fans would want to see another Dutchman appointed, and he must remain an outsider.