Alex McLeish believes he would be suited to becoming a director of football as Rangers continue their search to fill that very vacancy.

The Ibrox board have drawn up a short list for the right candidate to work with manager Pedro Caixinha and implement a new structure at Ibrox. Southampton's Ross Wilson has already knocked back the opportunity, while former Spurs head of recruitment Paul Mitchell continues to be linked.

However, ex-Rangers manager McLeish has admitted it is a role that increasingly intrigues him on the back of missing out on several managerial posts south of the border. And, despite not quite throwing his hat into the ring to be considered, the 58-year-old backed himself to have the necessary talents and expertise to fulfill the crucial post at the club he once guided to a treble.

“Go down a new career path? Well you never know," he said.

“It’s something I have considered and obviously a director of football can also be influential in terms of recruitment, which is the most important part after you install your coach.

“It’s something that has been in my mind for a wee while with getting overlooked for some of the bigger jobs in England.

“I’ve done my wee stint abroad, and I wouldn’t rule going abroad again, it was great coaching out there and working with sporting directors and directors of football. You get a wee feel for that.

“At Genk it was a wee bit different because the sporting director had chosen all the players and I just worked with a group for the whole season that were mine. I didn’t bring anyone in.

“And that was a club who were trying to consolidate and we did it quite nicely. I’ve got those kind of capabilities I feel, yeah."

McLeish had been linked with replacing Mark Warburton as manager while his name was also mentioned for the new vacancy that has yet to be filled.

Despite that, he claims no formal talks have taken place.

“No we just had a nice casual chat," added McLeish, who is part of Bt Sport's team that will be covering Aberdeen v Hearts on Saturday. "If Rangers had given me the nod that they wanted me to come back I would have asked for a further meeting just to clear some things up.

“It wasn’t a done deal if they had said ‘you are the man we are going for’. There would have been further chat as well just to understand some parameters.”

Turning to matters on the field, McLeish has called for Caixinha to be given time to put his stamp on Rangers and return them to where he the growing band of anxious Rangers fans believe they belong.

Even though the Portuguese was only unveiled on Monday after penning a two-and-a-half year deal, he will have surely been struck by the realisation of what is expected of him at Ibrox, no matter what the circumstances.

“I knew could a wee bit about him before because I’ve done some work in the middle east. I saw some of the coaches who were instilled in positions over there," said McLeish.

“If he’s Rangers manager he deserves to get respect and deserves to get time to try and build what he wants, as he said the other day, to get above Celtic again.

“You can’t forget Aberdeen, though.

“Rangers are in a unique band of clubs maybe around six, seven, nine clubs in the world that need to win every single week.

“Unfortunately when you don’t have the tools at your disposal you can’t be Harry Potter and all of a sudden take them to the title or guarantee second place. It’s expected, but you can’t guarantee it."

Rangers' ability to finish second at this stage is as much down to Caixinha's wizardry as it is relying on an Aberdeen slip up. Under Derek McInnes, the Pittodrie club have galloped into an eight-point lead over the Ibrox club in third, with Saturday's crucial visit of Hearts a key game in what is a race to become best of the rest.

“I said right at the start of the season that Aberdeen should be favourite to finish second because Rangers were going through - to use that jargon word - transition," said McLeish.

“So I think Derek would probably for the first time felt more pressure than he has done in previous seasons because of Rangers entry back into the big time.

“Does the fact that Rangers have spent more necessarily mean they should finish above Aberdeen? I thought not because of the consistency of the Aberdeen team, consistency of selection and the fact he has worked with those players a long time and created a good mentality.

“He had all those things in his favour and it was always going to take something really special for Rangers to get above them."

Watch Aberdeen v Hearts on BT Sport 1 on Saturday 18th March from midday. BT Sport is your home of unmissable live football from the SPFL and Betfred League Cup, for more info visit btsport.com/football