Waving goodbye?: Walter Smith may stay on at Ibrox, with RFC Holdings said to be keen to keep him as manager.
Walter Smith will be offered the chance to stay on as Rangers boss if the consortium bidding to buy the club are successful in their takeover. Reports on Thursday state that Smith, who could guide his team to a domestic treble this campaign, is the man Andrew Ellis and his group want to lead Rangers during the resulting period of change if they acquire the club.
Smith, together with assistant manager Ally McCoist and first team coach Kenny McDowall, has been working without a contract since the turn of the year, as uncertainty continues to cast a cloud over on-field success.
Rangers haven’t been able to buy a player since a transfer splurge at the start of the 2008/09 season and those constraints have made life difficult for Smith, who looked to possibly be on his way in the summer if the situation remained the same.
The chance to spend money on new blood for his squad may alter that decision however and the speculation that Ellis' RFC Holdings want to keep the man who has guided the club to eight league titles will boost fans and players, as they try to win a second successive SPL crown.
Kris Boyd, Nacho Novo and Kyle Broadfoot are out of contract at the end of the season and the bidding group are also said to be keen to tie down all three on new deals at the earliest opportunity.
Boyd has attracted interested from south of the border, with Birmingham City and Aston Villa reportedly offering him pre-contract terms in January with a view to a free transfer move in the summer transfer window.
Smith welcomed news of new ownership at Ibrox when he was asked earlier in the week but warned fans not to raise their expectations too early, in case the deal fell through.
“There is a huge difference between someone declaring an interest in buying a club and actually doing it,” said Smith. “I think that’s the one thing we have to be careful with.
“I'm not on the business side of things but, from what I read about takeover bids for all different businesses, it doesn't seem to happen at the drop of a hat.
"There is a lot of work to be done before anything is completed so we will just have to wait and see what happens."
