So perhaps it came as no surprise that on 7 April 1986, Wallace resigned as manager of the club. He was to jump before being pushed by the then newly appointed Rangers chairman David Holmes. Holmes had gone on record saying that the slump the club was in could not be allowed to go on. Wallace's side might have won the League Cup twice in a row, but the league form remained indifferent. The continuing dominance of the great Aberdeen side of the 1980s, coupled with strong Dundee United and Celtic teams that offered periodic challenges to Aberdeen's ascendancy, placed Wallace under increasing pressure. By the 1985–86 season Rangers had slipped to fifth place in the league and, with little evidence of improvement since the Greig era, it was inevitable that Wallace would be removed as manager. However, the search for Wallace's replacement was a brief one.