St Mirren vice-chairman Jim Gillespie is set to drop out of the race to become the next chief executive of Rangers.
The Ibrox club targeted the 46-year-old after previous CEO James Bisgrove moved to the Middle East in June.
Discussions reached an advanced stage, with Gillespie the frontrunner to land the job up until last week.
However, Mail Sport now understands that the trail has cooled on Gillespie, who is CEO of Renfrewshire children’s charity Kibble.
Rangers chairman John Bennett will now continue the search for a replacement for Bisgrove, who stunned the club by moving to Saudi Pro League side Al-Qadsiah.
A well-known face in SPFL boardrooms, father-of-two and Rangers supporter Gillespie was widely tipped to land the Ibrox post.
St Mirren vice chairman Gillespie was widely tipped to become Rangers CEO
Rangers were stunned when previous CEO James Bisgrove quit for Middle East in June
Rangers chairman John Bennett, left, with Bisgrove prior to his departure
Joining the St Mirren board in March 2020 after Kibble completed the purchase of 27.5 per cent of the Paisley outfit, the club website crediting Gillespie with bringing ‘a wealth of experience at Director level in leadership and business transformation, with comprehensive skills in innovation, and entrepreneurship’.
Gillespie strengthened his CV by picking up two awards at the annual Institute of Directors (IoD) Scotland Awards. He was also awarded regional director of the year for Glasgow and the West at the Institute of Director (IoD) awards in 2021.
Rangers’ search for a new chief executive was put to one side while chairman Bennett dealt with the fall-out from delays to building work on the Copland Road Stand.
Gillespie is also CEO of Renfrewshire children's charity KIbble
Rangers chairman Bennett admitted Ibrox building delays had impacted on search for CEO
The Rangers team are due to return to Ibrox after building work delays at Copland Stand
Scheduled to vacate Hampden and return to Ibrox for their home game against Dundee in the Premier Sports Cup on September 21, Rangers declined to comment on the current state of play involving the stadium last night.
Bennett recently told the club’s official channels, however, that the building set-back had impacted on the search for a new CEO.
‘I wouldn’t say that absolutely everything was parked when I got this call in June that we had this materials delay to the stand project,’ said Bennett, ‘but it kind of was like that.
‘The first priority was dealing with that. So everything else was kind of slowed down, but that’s been my other objective, to get that delivered, and I hope to have some news pretty soon about our CEO.’