Nacho Novo names the Rangers lesson from Walter Smith he will carry into management as Scottish hot seat targeted

The American dream wasn’t exactly a nightmare for Nacho Novo, but he’s had no sleepless nights over his decision to quit his first-head coach role after only a month. The former Rangers striker is back in the UK after a two-year Stateside stint in Kentucky with Lexington SC in the third tier of the American pyramid, if you can call it that.

After all, you can climb up or slide down a pyramid – but with no promotion or relegation in the US soccer system, there’s nowhere to go and that was a frustration for the competitive animal that still snarls inside Novo. The Spaniard enjoyed a superb six-year Ibrox career, winning three league titles and scoring the penalty that took Walter Smith’s men to the final of the 2008 UEFA Cup.

But his ambition to become a manager in his own right has been a slow burner. At 44, he is now looking for an opportunity in either his adopted homeland or in mainland Europe. That comes after the stint in the US that saw him handed the first-team coach reins on an interim basis at Lexington, where he had been assistant manager and Under-23 coach – but which lasted only five matches.

Novo told MailSport: “Honestly, I really enjoyed some of it. It was totally different from Europe.

“The problem in the States is so many people still don’t know about the game. That can be a bit tricky, especially when they don’t let you do your own job. I am a person who has my own ideas and will live or die by them.

“I had many good experiences there. It was a very young team and the players listened and understood my principles and how I wanted to play. I was assistant coach then became interim head coach and I was told I had the team playing the best they’ve ever played. In America, there are too many coaches who