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Steven Gerrard could make his managerial return a little over eight months on from ending his time in Saudi Arabia. While Al-Ettifaq did little to reignite the dwindling momentum behind his start to life as a head coach, an opportunity could nonetheless be about to present itself.
It was not all that long ago that Gerrard was being mentioned as a possible heir to Jurgen Klopp at Liverpool. That was in recognition of his remarkable work at Rangers, where he oversaw an invincible, centurion season.
But by the time Liverpool plumped for Arne Slot, it has to be said that Gerrard was well out of the frame. A chastening Premier League stint with Aston Villa saw him banished to the relative footballing hinterlands of Saudi Arabia, where he failed to make much of an impression in his 18 months at the helm.
Heading up a side outside of the four PIF-owned teams, Gerrard always had his work cut out to make much of a splash. But his contacts and cachet saw him assemble a team that should have been more competitive, not least thanks to former Liverpool stars Jordan Henderson and Gini Wijnaldum.
Leaving Al-Ettifaq by mutual consent at the start of the year, it was hard to see an obvious route back into management for Gerrard. But a crisis for Rangers might well have opened up the perfect opportunity.
Russell Martin has been officially relieved of his duties after just 17 games. It's a brutal sacking in terms of the time frame, but given the results, the biggest shock is that it took this long.
For context, Rangers finds itself eighth in the Scottish top flight, just four points off the bottom and 11 adrift of the leader. Not only is that a far cry from Gerrard's invincible season, it is more or less unprecedented in modern football north of the border.
The Scottish giant is in need of someone to steady the ship. That could present the ideal opportunity for Gerrard, who was always likely to require circumstances such as these in order to be given another crack of the whip at a club with any kind of stature and relevance.
Various sources including the Guardian have reported that Gerrard is in the running for the job. He would be inheriting a harder gig than the one he enjoyed last time at Ibrox, but expectations would also be lower.
And the fact is that Martin has not exactly left a high bar to clear. Gerrard could engineer a bounce on feel-good factor alone.
Beyond that, he has already proved that he has the wherewithal to succeed in the SPFL. Whatever water has passed under the bridge since, Gerrard deserves huge amounts of credit for that first stint, and you can see why Rangers would seek his return under these circumstances.
Whatever you make of Scotland's competitive landscape, there are always at least two teams capable of putting up a challenge. Gerrard engineered three wins and a draw over Celtic in the 2020/21 campaign, finishing 25 points clear of the perennial rival.
Martin's tenure has rather made the point that this does not happen automatically, even at Ibrox. Detractors have tried to claim that Gerrard relied to an outsized degree on the staff around him during his time in charge, but he has earned the right to try and put things right himself.
Should Gerrard take the job, it would truly be make or break. His Rangers legacy is the one thing holding his coaching career together — tarnishing that reputation could spell the end of the line, but a second spell of success would give the Liverpool legend renewed managerial relevancy.
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