IT'S not hard to argue that the Glasgow Rangers manager's job is one of the biggest and hardest in British, if not world, football.

The historic club sacked manager Michael Beale on Sunday, October 1, meaning they are now on the hunt for only the 19th permanent manager in their history.

In the meantime, a "management team" has taken interim charge at Ibrox - headed up by Hall of Famer, and current player, Steven Davis.

Alongside him, while Rangers hunt for a permanent solution, in the team of five will be some well known faces in two former players - Alex Rae and Steven Smith.

Though there are another two men who will be taking the interim reigns - goalkeeping coach Colin Stewart and B team coach Brian Gilmour - who both hail from Ayrshire.

It is, in fact, the second time the pair have helped 'plug the gap' between managers, having previously assisted Rangers B team boss David McCallum and Jermaine Defoe when they took charge of the side after Steven Gerrard departed in 2021 - before Giovanni van Bronckhurst came into the helm.

Though they will be hoping for a more fruitful spell on this occasion, with their only previous match being a 3-1 loss to Hibernian at Hampden in the League Cup semi-final.

While the Ayrshire duo may not be the best known names in the game, they bring with them a certain level of coaching pedigree - and strong knowledge of the club.

Kilwinning man Stewart, who is married to Scotland women's football star Julie Fleeting, is the son of former Scotland goalkeeper coach Jim Stewart.

He himself had a long playing career in the Scottish game - most notably with Greenock Morton and Livingston.

He moved into coaching in 2012 with Qatari side Al-Khor SC, before coming into more familiar territory as co-manager of Kilwinning Rangers in 2014.

Then in 2015, he first took up a role at Rangers, as head of their academy goalkeeping, before becoming a first team goalkeeper coach in 2017.

While he will also be well known by any local goalkeepers who attended the Mittz Goalkeeping Academy.

Colin alongside his brothers, and fellow goalkeepers, Ross and Fraser are directors of the Ayrshire based academy.

While Brian Gilmour, a former Cumnock Academy pupil, started his career in the ranks at Rangers - though never made an appearance for the first team.

His playing career took him to Clyde, Queen of the South and Stenhousemuir in Scotland as well as Lincoln City in England. He also had a brief stint at Finnish side FC Haka before finding his first long-term home at Icelandic side KA.

Though the most fruitful time of his playing career came at Somerset Park with Ayr United where he made over 100 appearances before being released in January of 2018.

Shortly before his departure, Gilmour had taken up a part-time role coaching within the Rangers Academy in May 2017 - returning to where it all began.

Then in June 2020, as part of Rangers restructuring of its academy set-up, Gilmour was appointed joint coach of the B Team alongside Kevin Thomson.

It is what has led the pair to the position they are in now - in charge of one of the biggest two clubs in the country.

They will be hoping to do the fans, and Ayrshire, proud as they step into the dugout as part of the interim management team for the second time as Rangers face Aris Limassol away in the Europa League group stages on Thursday, October 5, at 5.45pm.