The reign of Giovanni van Bronckhorst at Rangers is one ultimately tinged with sadness.
The former Ibrox midfielder answered the club’s call back in 2021 after Steven Gerrard – frustrated with a lack of transfer activity – left for the bright lights of the Premier League.
Initially, Gio brought stability as Celtic ambled back to form under Ange Postecoglou.
But the January window proved to be a telling one as dodgy Omicron call-offs and a disastrous set of signings cost Rangers the prize of Scottish Premiership glory.
Letting slip a seven point lead, ultimately it was league form which cost Giovanni van Bronckhorst, who held off the sack by reaching the Europa League Final and winning the Scottish Cup.
The following season, the walls came crumbling down.
Despite qualifying for the Champions League the pressure mounted on Van Bronckhorst when a relentless Celtic began running away with the league.
But with the summer window heading up to the event another disaster from the Rangers Board, Gio will be glad to be getting the support he never did in Glasgow at his current employers.
Van Bronckhorst let down by Rangers board
Rangers fans feel that Giovanni van Bronckhorst was never really backed at Ibrox despite bringing huge success to the club.
Reaching the Europa League Final and the Champions League group stages, Gio also oversaw the big money sales of Calvin Bassey and Joe Aribo.
Despite this, Rangers felt desperately short heading into the season and so it proved with the club humiliated in the Champions League and Celtic eventually romping to a treble.
Whilst Gio paid the price, in the aftermath the Dutchman’s former assistant Dave Vos has publicly criticised a lack of depth in the squad.
When Michael Beale took over, after ominously sitting in the crowd at Ibrox as the pressure mounted on Van Bronckhorst, Rangers backed him the following summer with a £21m budget.
Now – after almost two years out of the game – Gio is now in charge of Besiktas and it’s fair to say the Turkish side are taking a different approach with the ex-Rangers manager.
Dutch coach getting Besiktas backing
Already this summer Besiktas have been busy reshaping the squad in the image of ex-Feyenoord, Barcelona and Arsenal icon Van Bronckhorst.
Van Bronckhorst has added a number of high profile players to his team as Besiktas look front up the challenge of Jose Mourinho’s Fenerbahce and Okan Buruk‘s Galatasaray next season.
Experienced Benfica campaigner Rafa Mir and Atletico centre-back Gabriel Paulista have joined on free contracts but undoubtedly decent wages.
The Turkish side have also spent around £2.5m bringing in Italian striker Ciro Immobile whilst loan Libyan midfielder Al-Musrati has just joined the club permanently in a record £9.2m deal from Braga.
The spending is not expected to end there either, with Turkish outlet Milliyet reporting that Van Bronckhorst has approved a move for Real Madrid midfielder Dani Ceballos.
This level of backing was almost non-existent as an apprehensive Rangers moved into the post-Covid world.
Whilst Rangers did spend a combined £12m on bringing Antonio Colak, Ben Davies, Rabbi Matondo and Ridvan Yilmaz into the club, this was well short of the necessary investment the squad needed.
A poor record of investment at Rangers has brought the Ibrox board’s recent decision-making in the transfer market under the microscope.
Only this week was Philippe Clement clear that Rangers need to sell before they can buy.
No-one at Ibrox can hide from the fact that there have been some seriously poor transfer decisions made in Glasgow over the last three or four years.
Not least this includes a certain Dutch striker, Sam Lammers having the potential to cost the club £7.5m come the end of his contract.
