Rangers: Steven Gerrard? Derek McInnes? What if Danny Rohl leaves?

Due to his experience and success in Scottish football and his playing history with Rangers, McInnes has often been talked about as a potential manager of the club.

He turned down the chance to become a manager once before, opting to stay at Aberdeen in 2017. This was at a time when Rangers were struggling as a club and the Pittodrie side were Celtic’s main rivals.

But persuading him to leave Hearts after nine years on the back of his historic first season at Tynecastle could be an equally big task for the Ibrox hierarchy.

They were minutes away from a first league title since 1960 before a late defeat to Celtic, who went on to win the Premiership crown.

Before Rohl took over in October, McInnes was asked about the vacancy but was clear he was committed to Heart, even before their remarkable title tilt went into overdrive.

“I love it here,” he said. “It’s been a long time since I’ve been here. I always thought it was a job I wanted to do. I’m working with some great people.

“I’ve mentioned a few there, (sporting director) Graeme Jones and the support of the board, but the players have been first class in terms of their effort day in and day out and, I think for us, we think we can succeed here, we really do.”

McInnes has a strong relationship with Jones and would be hard pressed to walk away from the job given the support of Tony Bloom and his data analytics company.

Especially with Hearts entering the Champions League qualifiers next month.