Heading into Rangers’ Champions League clash with Napoli, the only thing as predictable as the inevitable result in Naples was Giovanni van Bronckhorst attempting to rationalise another hammering at full time.
But it should come as no surprise after Rangers boss Gio gave permission for his team to go out waving the white flag as soon as he insisted the club couldn’t compete at this level.
After the Gers were humbled 4-0 in the Amsterdam Arena by Ajax, still hurting after a pathetic collapse at the home of Old Firm rivals Celtic, Van Bronckhorst chose to blame the financial gap rather than a lack of belief or commitment.
The Dutchman claimed that it’s “too much to ask” for Rangers “to compete” with Ajax, Liverpool or Napoli. This message appears to have gotten through loud and clear to his confidence-sapped players.
At every level of football there are financial and playing gaps between teams and yet there are plenty examples of those who replace financial disparity with commitment and tactical discipline. Just ask Livingston.
Rangers have had neither of these vital components in a Champions League campaign that has already broken records for all the wrong reasons and is one more skudding away from getting worse.
Giovanni van Bronckhorst has rationalised the unacceptable at Rangers
Van Bronckhorst got it twisted post-Ajax and appeared to move the responsibility for a second 4-0 thrashing in a week onto finances rather than take ownership for his side’s continual collapse or his lacklustre tactics and uninspired team.
The Dutchman may be a master tactician in the eyes of many, heck, he might’ve even led the Netherlands to a World Cup Final and been a part of one of the greatest club footballing sides of all-time at Barcelona, but as a manager his calm, tepid, and monotonous demeanour has been accused of lacking charisma.
Of course, we don’t know what happens away from the cameras, but it’s clear that Giovanni van Bronckhorst is struggling to inspire this Rangers team to go beyond themselves and to play for the jersey, to play for us.
I see a team not only devoid of tactical ideas or confidence, but one which is severely lacking in energy and commitment to the cause.
From the moment Van Bronckhorst began trying to rationalise woeful performances and results at Champions League level, he sent a message to the squad that in some way they are justifiable or acceptable.
Let’s be clear here, consistent maulings at any level are not acceptable at Rangers, full stop. Van Bronckhorst has been overseeing them far too regularly.
The performances and results in the games that truly mattered against Celtic have also shown up his leadership credentials, whilst domestically we’re one more bad result away from capitulation.
Even after the latest result – a 3-0 defeat to Napoli which brings our Champions League record this season to five straight defeats, 19 goals conceded and only one scored – the Dutchman attempted to paint a picture of improvement.
Apparently we can be quite happy with the second half against a Napoli side who barely shifted out of second gear and were playing with slippers on after we surrendered two goals in the first 15 minutes.
Ok, so maybe I’m being harsh on a Rangers team who did attempt to rally, but we were still beaten 3-0.
Anyone with a sense of Rangers and what the club is all about understands that no ego is larger than Ibrox – regardless of their coaching philosophies – and that results and commitment to the cause are paramount.
Rangers’ woeful performances have stemmed from a lack of belief that fundamentally rests at the feet of a management team who appear so wrapped up in their own idea of how the game should be played that they’ve sacrificed the basic tenants of what being a part of Rangers means.
We are a laughing stock across Europe and it’s not because of a gap in finances or because we’ve been unlucky, it’s because we’ve been mismanaged at this level to the point that the man supposed to be leading us gave the go-ahead to start waving the white flag after the first kick of the ball.
Rangers fans can accept getting beaten by the better team, but we cannot accept going down without a fight.
Meanwhile, one Premier League club has been showing Rangers what they’re missing with a social media clip.
