HARD TO RESIST

Souness would seriously consider an Ibrox return

GRAEME SOUNESS admits he will give serious consideration to making a Rangers return.

The iconic former manager is eager to help his old club in any way possible following discussions with incoming chief executive James Bisgrove earlier this month.

With an ambassadorial role thought to be one option raised, Souness could now take up a position at Ibrox more than 30 years after ending his transformative spell in charge to rejoin Liverpool.

The 70-year-old recently exited Sky Sports after a lengthy run as a pundit and would listen carefully to any formal approach from Rangers.

Writing in his Sportsmail column, Souness (right) confirmed: ‘I’ve had a meeting with James Bisgrove, who’s the new chief executive at Rangers, about the potential prospect of me going back in some capacity to help the club.

‘Given that I’m a Rangers supporter from being a boy, if I thought I could be of help in any small way, it’s something I would think very seriously about.’

Bisgrove last week stressed the sit-down with Souness had been ‘informal’ but made it clear the club

wanted to maintain a close a close relationship with the ex-Scotland captain. ‘Graeme doesn’t need me to say, but Graeme’s an absolute legend of the football club,’ said Bisgrove. ‘He’s an icon and I think our strategy will be to make sure that we’ve got good relationships with a lot of our club legends. ‘Graeme was in Glasgow for a private engagement and dropped in for a coffee. It was an informal conversation because we want to maintain that relationship. Hopefully, in the future, he’ll be involved in more opportunities in an ambassadorial sense. I think that’s for Graeme to decide.’ Asked if he had discussed an ambassadorial role with Souness, Bisgrove added: ‘Not specifically. As I said, it was an informal chance just to reconnect because Graeme happened to be in Glasgow and he loves to come into Ibrox.’ Meanwhile, Rangers manager Michael Beale admits he will happily bid ‘good riddance’ to the current season as he moves to step up his summer rebuild. The Ibrox side bring down the curtain on a disappointing Premiership campaign with today’s visit to St Mirren. With no trophies won and persistent injury issues within the squad, Beale is eager to turn attention to the future. ‘Look, this season is done after tomorrow,’ said the 42-year-old. ‘Good riddance to this season and we’ll come back next season and give it a real good go. ‘We’re very close to what I want. If we get that in, I’ll be very pleased and we’ll have a real strong pre-season, implement some new things and we’ll come out of it a much stronger team.’ Adding attacking reinforcements will be a priority for Beale after the departures of Alfredo Morelos and Ryan Kent were confirmed. Rangers have been linked with Troyes striker Ike Ugbo. A first summer signing was confirmed in midweek when Kieran Dowell finalised a three-year deal. Chelsea full-back Dujon Sterling is also thought to have agreed terms, while Crystal Palace goalkeeper Jack Butland and Los Angeles FC midfielder Jose Cifuentes are further targets. Beale added: ‘There are three of four things that we know are there.’