Aberdeen manager Jim Goodwin has bitten back at Rangers boss Giovanni van Bronckhorst amid comments from the Dutchman regarding the financial disparity in the Champions League.
Rangers boss Gio is under fire for claiming it is “too much to ask” the Ibrox club to compete in the Champions League due to the millions spent between group rivals Ajax, Liverpool and Napoli [BT Sport].
They are comments that have riled Rangers fans with the intimation that the club is only there to make up the number fundamentally not acceptable at Ibrox.
And the Rangers support aren’t the only ones as the hypocrisy of the comments reflect negatively on Giovanni van Bronckhorst’s domestic performance.
Jim Goodwin takes aim at Rangers boss’ comments
If financial disparity is the name of the game then Rangers should be blowing away teams domestically given the fact they have a substantially higher transfer and wage budget than everyone but Celtic.
So whilst van Bronckhorst claims that Rangers can’t compete at Champions League level, logically this suggests he believes the teams in Scotland shouldn’t be able to compete at Premiership level.
Yet the Dutchman continue to toil in the league, particularly on the road.
Aberdeen manager Jim Goodwin is preparing to welcome Rangers to Pittodrie this weekend in a nerve-inducing fixture that could potentially define van Bronckhorst’s tenure at the club.
The Dons boss took aim at the comments and insists now both Rangers and Celtic know how his side feels.
“I always find it funny when managers from either side of the Old Firm come out and talk about financial gulfs,” said Jim Goodwin [Sky Sports].
“I mean, welcome to the world of the other 10 Scottish Premiership clubs. It is what it is at the end of the day.
“I think here at Aberdeen I’ve got good resources available to me, but they are obviously not at the same level Rangers and Celtic have got available to them. But, we make do with what we have got available to us.
“We have a fantastic training facility. We’ve got great plans for the stadium in the coming years, and there is an air of positivity about the city because of the football club.
“We sit third at the moment, which is where we want to be as a minimum. But if we win on Saturday we go level on points with Rangers, and you just never know what can happen.”
The match against Jim Goodwin and Aberdeen could be a make or break one for Rangers boss van Bronckhorst.