Giovanni van Bronckhorst continues to be under pressure in his role as Rangers manager. He might have led them to the Europa League final and won the Scottish Cup last season, but there are questions being asked about his work at the Ibrox club this time around, as he struggles to keep up with Celtic on the pitch and in the league table. Could the Dutch manager be shown the exit door though?
Van Bronckhorst’s case to remain in role certainly wasn’t helped by the 1-7 defeat at Ibrox against Liverpool. The glory days of Champions League football aren’t feeling that glorious anymore for them.
Scraping through an unconvincing and nervy 1-0 win over Dundee at Ibrox in the League Cup hasn’t managed to satisfy the fans either. The boos around the ground at full-time underlined that.
The Dutch manager has had to contend with a relatively limited financial budget though, especially when you consider their deep run in the Europa League last season and the fact that they made the Champions League this time around, restricting signings to bolster the squad. On the other hand, key players like Calvin Bassey and Joe Aribo have left. A long list of injuries have not helped them either while the big names available are not delivering the goods.
Could Van Bronckhorst be on his way out of Ibrox amid Rangers’ Celtic chase?
As reported by Phil Mac Giolla Bhain, there might be tension between the dugout and the boardroom at Ibrox. A member of the club’s ‘High Command’ is said to have remarked “we should have a better product” to which Van Bronckhorst responded that he didn’t have the tools to achieve that. Moreover, the Dutchman’s solution for the dissatisfied member was that if he wasn’t happy with what was on the pitch, then the club could pay up the contracts of the management team, and that would be the end of the matter.
Now when results are not up to expectations, there are always going to be discussions behind the scenes at clubs. But if the aforementioned incident did indeed happen at Ibrox, then it does not paint the picture of a Van Bronckhorst who is happy with the backing he has received.
Rangers have some very tough games coming up as well in the Champions League, against Napoli and Ajax.
On the other hand, in the League Cup semi-finals, they have been drawn against Aberdeen, while Celtic will take on Kilmarnock.