Celtic are off to a flying start to their Premiership title defence and have taken a nine point lead over the Rangers, going into the World Cup break. Also, they won the first Glasgow Derby of the season 4-0 at Parkhead earlier on in the campaign. Coming into the season, not many would have seen this kind of domination coming.
Celtic were the defending Premiership and League Cup champions. But Giovanni van Bronckhorst had managed to lead the Rangers to a Scottish Cup triumph and the UEFA Europa League final, which they lost against Eintracht Frankfurt, thanks to a penalty miss from Aaron Ramsey.
That had led to many believing that this was going to be a very tight title race between Celtic and the Rangers. While there is still a lot of football to be played and things can change, till now, it has been anything but competitive.
Earlier on in the campaign, Barry Ferguson had claimed that Van Bronckhorst had Ange Postecoglou sussed and the Rangers manager had different ways of defeating his Celtic counterpart. It is safe to say that his opinion has changed quite a bit between now and then.
Rangers legend makes incredible U-turn after Celtic domination in the Premiership
As reported by the Daily Record, Ferguson said:
"“The first conversation has to be between Gio and the board and it has to happen straight away. I know he’s gone back home but this conversation can’t be put off any longer.“They need to discuss where it’s gone wrong over the last couple of months, where they want to be in the next couple of months – and how they plan to go about getting there. If they can agree on how to do it then they should come out and give Gio their backing. Tell the fans and the players that he’s in charge and that the club will be bringing in new players ahead of the second part of the season.“But if they can’t agree and they decide they need to make a change, then they have to get on with it. Don’t leave everyone hanging any longer. One way or another a decision has to be made and the club needs to be given a sense of direction.“I realise the club can’t come out and comment every time there’s any sort of issue. But this isn’t just any issue – this is huge – and it needs to be addressed with real urgency.”"
Although just 15 games have been played in the league this season till now, it has been enough to change the opinion of a lot of people surrounding Van Bronckhorst’s future at the club as their manager.
It does seem like a large portion of the Rangers’ support want him gone. There has been booing at the games at Ibrox, as the club have struggled to turn around their results for a while now, while Celtic have continued to pull away. In some ways, it feels like their version of the Hoops’ 2020/21 campaign.