McCann is part of Ferguson’s staff until the summer alongside Allan McGregor, Billy Dodds and Issame Charai
Neil McCann insists Barry Ferguson and his backroom team would be right up for the challenge of managing Rangers permanently.
The Ibrox coach reckons the interim boss has already proved a lot of critics wrong with how he has handled the top job on a caretaker basis.
Ferguson, McCann, Billy Dodds, Allan McGregor and Issame Charai were handed the reins until the end of the season after Philippe Clement was sacked in February.
Many questioned the former captain’s lack of experience managing at the top level. But the interim team have led the Ibrox club to three Premiership wins from four games – including a first Old Firm success at Parkhead in five years – as well as into the last eight of the Europa League where they will face Athletic Bilbao.
Ferguson has batted away questions on his long-term future as he looks to steady the ship. But with new ownership set to come into Ibrox, fans are already looking for answers on who will be in charge in the dugout.
Speaking ahead of Saturday’s home clash with third placed Hibs, McCann said: “Honestly, it’s not my place to tell – if it is a new ownership coming – if he should get the job. What I would say is that I’ve been very impressed by how he (Ferguson) wants to work.
“He’s shown a willingness to allow Doddsy and I a lot of say on the training field and in matches. A lot of people maybe thought from his coaching CV that he maybe wouldn’t even be ready to even take this position. I think he’s proved that wrong. So it’s not my place to say but I don’t think anybody in this building will tell you anything different.
“In-house speaking to Fergie and as a coaching staff, none of us are frightened of a challenge. Not one of us.
“And if it was to be presented to us I don’t think there’d be any of us to say ‘no it’s not for us’.
“It’s too far of a distance to even encourage that and we’ve got a huge game coming up against Hibs who are 15 unbeaten in the league.”
Asked if he thinks the way the team performs from now until the end of the season could dictate what the powers that be decide, McCann added: “Well, of course it could have an influence, yes. And you would hope that there’s been an influence already because they felt they had to make a change, the board, already.
“A new ownership, we don’t know what that’s going to look like but when a team makes a change, or a board makes a change, with a management team then clearly they’re looking for a reaction immediately and they want results. And all we can do is try and get them from it.”
Vaclav Cerny remains a doubt for Saturday’s clash with HIbs as he nurses a hamstring injury that saw him miss the 4-3 win at Dundee last week. The Czech winger should be okay for next Thursday’s first leg against Bilbao.
But McCann said: “He’s still working with the medical department and he’ll join us tomorrow hopefully, but we’re still unsure whether he’ll make it or not.
“He’s making really good progress so we’re hopeful that he’ll be involved on Saturday. We’ve got such big games coming up tomorrow, Saturday is one of them, but as you know the European games are huge so we just have to be guided by him.
“We’ll push him as much as we can because he’s been really important for us, but we’ll take no risks if he’s not feeling 100 per cent. The rest of the squad? Good, the rest of the squad is good.
“We barely took a knock in the game at Dundee, but we showed a wee bit of guts and determination to stay on as we couldn’t make any more substitutes. I think he’s another one that’s making progress, he might have joined us today so we just need to find the medical team tomorrow morning.”
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