Rangers manager Giovanni van Bronckhorst claims the club need millions to compete in the Champions League – but there’s a £250m Chelsea reason why the Dutchman needs to seriously look at himself.
In comments which appear to dodge taking any serious responsibility for the club’s nuclear week on the pitch, van Bronckhorst blamed a disparity in wealth in the wake of the 4-0 humbling to Ajax.
Rangers were absolutely bereft of confidence, ideas and application in a horrific showing in Amsterdam that sums up a slide in the team overseen by the club’s incumbent Dutch management team.
Heading into the match, van Bronckhorst proved himself stubborn by defending his charges in the wake of the 4-0 hammering to Celtic and followed through by sticking with 10 of the 11 who were utterly humiliated at Parkhead and who in turn utterly humiliated us.
The only change was Steven Davis for Scott Wright. Sigh.
It was a decision that appeared naïve almost from kick off as several nervous players looked – on such a momentous occasion for the club – like they’d rather be anywhere else.
The touch was off, the focus nowhere to be seen, the nerves evident.
How a footballer cannot get himself up for a Champions League tie – especially Rangers Football Club’s first for 12 years – is remarkable. It’s like we didn’t turn up expecting to play a part here, we turned up expecting to be turned over.
And yet in the post-match, this lack of application was a subplot to van Bronckhorst who pointed to the millions of investment spread across the group and essentially suggested that, in purely competitive terms, Rangers are only there to make the numbers up. It was a car crash.
“To compete in the Champions League you need hundreds of millions. Otherwise you can’t compete,” said van Bronckhorst [BT Sport].
“Look at Ajax, they sold players worth over £200million. Look at Liverpool as well. For us to compete with them, it’s too much to ask.”
Right you are Gio, we may as well send the reserves. How can we expect the players to deal with the expectation of playing for Rangers if the management can’t?
No-one was expecting Rangers to dominate this match, or even win, but the least we expected was a reaction.
That’s something we did not get, least of all from the manager, who rewarded his Celtic Park flops with a start in the club’s first Champions League game for over a decade.
But if anyone wants to dress these comments up as anything but a cop-out from a manager under pressure, then they only need to look at this week’s Champions League fixtures.
Rangers can look to Chelsea defeat after Ajax humbling
Chelsea – having spent around £250m this summer – actually sacked manager Thomas Tuchel after they were defeated 1-0 by Croatian Champions GNK Dinamo Zagreb.
Dinamo didn’t need “hundreds of millions” to defeat the Stamford Bridge side – in fact they spent around £6m this summer – and this result brings GVB’s comments into question.
Club Brugge – a club Rangers should aspire to emulate – didn’t need them to dump Bundesliga giants Bayer Leverkusen either.
You can also contrast the comments of van Bronckhorst with those of Celtic boss Ange Postecoglou.
Off the back of a Real Madrid hammering, the Australian claimed it was his “responsibility” to ensure the Parkhead side can “compete” at this level.
Van Bronckhorst apparently believes there’s no point trying unless we’re ready to re-mortgage half of Glasgow.
That’s a slap in the face for every Rangers fan who has plowed money in the club and it’s incredible these comments are from the same man who claims he has “no regrets” over the club’s transfer business this summer.