TNT Sports
Rangers manager to stay
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Published 08/12/2005 at 19:14 GMT
Rangers manager Alex McLeish is to stay in his post, the Scottish champions said on Thursday, ending speculation that he might be sacked following the club's poor run of results. McLeish's job was under threat after 10 matches without a win in all competitions.
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They are 17 points behind leaders Celtic in the Scottish Premier League.
On Tuesday, though, Rangers became the first Scottish club to qualify for the knockout phase of the Champions League, an achievement that helped convince chairman David Murray to keep faith with the man who got them there.
"I can confirm that Alex McLeish will continue as manager of Rangers," Murray said on the club's website.
"Although we recognise that results in our domestic league are not of the standard that all at Rangers expect, we should not minimise one of our greatest achievements in European history.
"We have qualified for the last 16 of the Champions League with limited resources and we are confident that when normal league business resumes our squad, who are fully behind our manager, can improve on our current league position.
"We could easily have got a caretaker manager tomorrow but that's not best for Rangers.
"It would be totally unfair that somebody else would get the privilege of walking out at Stamford Bridge or the Nou Camp -
Alex deserves to be there and so does the team."
Former Scotland and Aberdeen defender McLeish, 46, took charge of the Glasgow club in December 2001 and guided them to the Scottish title in 2003 and 2005.
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