Advocaat: I nearly went back to Rangers

The Dutchman, who was manager at Ibrox between 1998 and 2001, held talks with chairman David Murray about replacing his own successor Alex McLeish as interim boss before the arrival of Paul Le Guen.

Advocaat was speaking before Zenit St Petersburg's UEFA Cup final date with Rangers next Wednesday.

He said: "There was a period when there was something wrong at Rangers, when things were not going the right way at the club.

"There were some rumours about me coming back then and I was not against it. But they decided to take another road.

"So many things were happening and I was thinking: 'Well, why not?' It was four years, five years since I had been at Ibrox.

"I spoke to David. He phoned me or maybe I phoned him. But they took another decision. They didn't take me.

"It was only going to be for an interim period. That was nearly four years ago.

"And, happily for me, it didn't work out because then I got the job with South Korea, which was an incredible experience."

Rangers face Dundee United on Saturday as the Ibrox club try to reduce Celtic's lead at the top to just one point.

Celtic have played two games more than Rangers and they face Hibernian on Sunday.

Rangers have Lee McCulloch available again as the midfielder has recovered from a foot injury.

US winger DaMarcus Beasley is fully fit after knee ligament damage. However boss Walter Smith is undecided as to whether he will be included in his squad.

United welcome back midfielder Danny Swanson, who seems to have recovered from a thigh problem after resuming training on Friday.

Central defender Garry Kenneth has also shrugged off a knee injury and he is available to manager Craig Levein.

Celtic skipper Stephen McManus is in line for a return to the side that hosts Hibs on Sunday.

The Scotland defender resumed training on Friday after missing last week's win over Motherwell with a calf injury.

And there was more good news for Celtic on Friday, as Gordon Strachan was awarded the SPL manager of the month award, while midfielder Barry Robson picked up the award for best player.