Did you ever imagine you would read a sentence like this in your life: The path has been cleared for Guti to take the reins at St. Mirren after Patrick Kluivert distanced himself from the vacant position.

Football is weird sometimes, but what's weird is wonderful. And there would be nothing more wonderful that seeing a former Real Madrid star traipsing up and down the line in Paisley as he shouts incredulously at his Scottish subordinates to "get it down on the fucking deck!"

What's even weirder however, is that one José María Gutiérrez Hernández was linked to another job in the past week; that of the slightly more attractive role of Real Madrid manager.

Guti is currently up for both the St Mirren and the Real Madrid job. What a wonderful time to be alive. pic.twitter.com/C5Cr4Npc1L — Euan McTear (@emctear) June 1, 2018

Zinedine Zidane surprised everyone when he resigned from his position as the head honcho of Los Blancos, leaving a legacy of unprecedented success in the modern era. You might not have heard, but he won three Champions League titles in a row.


Like any resignation, the Frenchman's departure has left a vacuum that needs to be filled with conjecture and rumour over who will succeed him: Arsene Wenger, Mauricio Sarri, Antonio Conte.

As a former Galactico, attention turned to Guti as Real consider having some level of continuity with the recent past, potentially hiring another club man who (they hope) knows what it takes to win at the greatest club in the world.

How Guti then ends up being linked with the biggest job in football and a wee club in Scotland is anyone's guess. This writer's initial reaction was to blame the ridiculous carousel of rumour-mill page fillers we are constantly being bombarded with at this time of year. But apparently Guti has been quoted as saying he sees "potential" in The Buddies, while his name has been connected with the the Real job enough times by reputable journalists that you can probably trust the veracity of those claims.

Unfortunately the St. Mirren chairman poured cold water over our fun. Gordon Scott told Sky Sport News:

I wouldn't rule them out completely but I think it's unlikely. It's pleasing to see high-profile names linked. It shows how attractive this job is but it also shows how attractive Scottish football is right now. Anybody who comes in needs to know Scottish football. It's different for sides like Celtic and Rangers who can bring in players from all over the world, but we need to focus on the Scottish market and the English market to a degree.


A quick look at the betting odds for the next St. Mirren manager brings up some interesting names though. You have your standard candidates who usually get a mention when a new job in Scotland comes available; Ally McCoist, Alan Stubbs, Gary Caldwell and the bookies' favourite Jim McIntyre, who, funnily enough, beat Kluivert to the Ross County job last year.

Guti is still in there at 14/1, joined by Henrik Larsson (20/1) and, most bizarrely of all, Benni McCarthy at 25/1, which honestly seems like too low a price for such a random candidate.

Meanwhile, MARCA is also linking Guti with Alcorcon, which means he must be the most sought-after man in all of football.

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