Ally McCoist has stated Steven Gerrard would be "welcomed back" as Rangers manager in the future.

The Ibrox hero was quizzed on the reception the Liverpool legend would receive if he returned to Rangers after his exit for Aston Villa in 2021.

On talkSPORT, host Jeff Stelling posed the question on whether Gerrard would be well received should he be a candidate at Ibrox if the club hierarchy wished to change manager from Philippe Clement.

For McCoist, current Al Ettifaq manager Gerrard would be welcomed back by Rangers supporters but the pundit offered an Ibrox insight that issues run "far deeper" than in the dugout.

Citing the vacancies in the chairman and CEO roles, McCoist warned his former club must address those issues as he admitted "it works its way down if things aren't right at the top".

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"He would be welcomed back," McCoist said of Gerrard. "He won the title in his time at Rangers and he would be welcomed back.

"But I have to tell you Jeff [Stelling] the problems at Rangers go far greater than the manager at this moment in time and a lot deeper. I think they need to get things sorted at the top level before anything else.

"It works its way down if things aren't right at the top. No full-time chairman, director of football or chief executive. There is none of that happening at this moment in time and that has to happen. I don't care what anyone says, it must have an effect on the pitch if things are not good off it.

"But I have to tell you Jeff [Stelling] the problems at Rangers go far greater than the manager at this moment in time and a lot deeper. I think they need to get things sorted at the top level before anything else.

"It works its way down if things aren't right at the top. No full-time chairman, director of football or chief executive. There is none of that happening at this moment in time and that has to happen. I don't care what anyone says, it must have an effect on the pitch if things are not good off it.

"So in answer your question, would he be welcomed back? I think he would, yeah. But he clearly has his work cut out over there [Saudi] at this moment in time."