Rangers right to take their time over new manager search - Mark Allen

Mark Allen previously work at Manchester City

Rangers director of football Mark Allen says the club must "do our due diligence" over appointing a new manager to replace Pedro Caixinha.

Caixinha was sacked last week and youth coach Graeme Murty took the first team for Saturday's 3-1 win away to Hearts.

Aberdeen's Derek McInnes is considered the main candidate for the Ibrox job, which Allen will have role in recruiting for.

"It's something which has come up very quickly," Allen told Rangers website.

"The one thing I would say is we need to do our due diligence and we need to be sure this process is given the right time to find the right person."

Allen has announced a new club scouting department headed up by Andy Scoulding and featuring former Rangers player John Brown.

Meanwhile, Northern Ireland manager Michael O'Neill has played down talk of him becoming the next Rangers manager, following media speculation.

"It's not a distraction for me at all," he told Sky Sports. "[Speculation is] constantly been there but it's not something that I pay much attention to.

"My attention is here and trying to get my country to a World Cup finals [via the play-offs].

"What may or may not happen after that is in the laps of the football gods to be honest. It's always nice to be linked with jobs but it's not something I have given much thought to at all."

Ayr United manager Ian McCall had McInnes as captain when both were at Dundee United and said of the Aberdeen boss on BBC Radio Scotland's Sportsound: "He's pragmatic in his approach to things and I think Rangers need somebody like that just now.

"He does embrace all the new technology, the new style of management, all the stuff that they do but he's also very old fashioned in terms of he wants to put his print on the whole club."