of the first nine, but eventually took Lyon to a further three consecutive championships and reached the UEFA Champions League quarter-final. He resigned from his position at Lyon on 9 May 2005, the day after the club won their fourth consecutive Ligue 1 championship, with Gérard Houllier taking over. After leaving the club, Le Guen embarked upon another year away from football management. During this time, he turned down management positions at several top European clubs, including Benfica and Lazio, and also stated that he would not return to manage his former club Paris Saint-Germain. Rangers On 11 March 2006, it was confirmed that Le Guen had agreed to replace Alex McLeish as manager of Rangers starting in the 2006–07 season. Le Guen signed a three-year contract with the option to extend his stay at Ibrox, and quickly acquired a number of players. Le Guen was the first Catholic to manage Rangers, a team with a historically Protestant identity. Le Guen made a poor start to his Ibrox career. His record across his first ten league games was the worst start to a season by an Old Firm debutant since John Greig's team won only two, drew six and lost two of their opening ten games in 1978–79. On 8 November, Rangers were knocked out of the Scottish League Cup at the quarter-final stage by First Division side St Johnstone. The result, the first time Rangers had been knocked out of a cup tournament by a lower league side at home, prompted protests outside Ibrox and demands for the situation to improve. On 1 January 2007, Rangers announced that Le Guen had stripped Barry Ferguson of his captaincy of the club and dropped him from the squad for a match the following day. BBC Sport reported that Ferguson would not play for Rangers again under Le Guen. Club chairman David Murray announced on 4 January 2007 that Le Guen had left Rangers by mutual consent. At the time, this made him the club's shortest-serving manager, and the only one to leave the club without completing a full season in charge. Le Guen's European record with Rangers has been described as being 'excellent' after remaining unbeaten in the 2006–07 UEFA Cup and finishing at the top of their group. However, it was the poor domestic results that ultimately led to his departure. Paris Saint-Germain It was announced on 15 January 2007