BILLY DAVIES is taking charge of his first Scottish match for 25 years this afternoon.
Morton boss Dougie Imrie has been forced to miss the Cappielow side’s home Championship opener against Dunfermline for personal reasons.
3
3
3
And that means a sudden temporary elevation to the top job for veteran former Motherwell, Derby and Nottingham Forest gaffer Davies, who made a surprise return to the Scottish game when he joined as the club’s new technical head coach last month.
The Cappielow side wrote: “We would like to inform supporters that Manager Dougie Imrie will not be in the dugout today due to a private matter.
“Technical Head Coach Billy Davies will take the team for today’s league opener against Dunfermline Athletic.”
It’s an unfortunate piece of early season turmoil for the Greenock side, who have added former Celtic and St Johnstone winger Michael O’Halloran to their squad this lunchtime on a one-year deal.
Read More Football Stories
They also added veteran striker Eamonn Brophy to their squad on a two-year deal yesterday.
Davies hasn’t worked in top flight management since 2011 – but there had been consistent rumours of a return to the Scottish game, most recently an interview for a role at Hearts back in 2017.
He also revealed that he was contacted – indirectly – by RANGERS with a view to becoming the boss at one point.
He was most strongly linked with the Gers back in 2015 (when the top job was given to Mark Warburton) and in 2017 (when it went to Pedro Caixinha).
He claimed an unnamed board member said that ex-managing director Stewart Robertson would be in touch – but the call never came.
When asked if he had ever spoken to Rangers, he said: “Yes. It was in 2016 or 2017.
“My agent got a call from a Rangers board member and that Rangers board member told him that they wanted to speak to me about the job.
“My agent was told that the following morning, Stewart Robertson would give us a call because we were going to go for an interview to become the Rangers manager.
“And, we’ve not heard anything since.
“The interesting thing is that since 2004, I’ve been linked with this job every single year or two.
“My name comes up but I’ve never even spoken to the club and they’ve never given me an interview.”
Keep up to date with ALL the latest news and transfers at the Scottish Sun football page
