Rangers manager Giovanni van Bronckhorst was in defiant mood after being pressed on the Ibrox club’s summer transfer business ahead of the Champions League clash with Ajax.
Rangers’ summer spending has been heavily scrutinised by supporters and in the press in the aftermath of the club falling five points behind Celtic in the title race.
Despite this, the manager insists he has “no regrets” regarding the club’s summer transfer business as he bit back at questions regarding the club’s operations this summer.
The 47-year-old also rejected suggestions in the media the club has millions in the bank despite several high-profile player sales and European success.
Giovanni van Bronckhorst defends Rangers transfer business
“I have no regrets at all, none,” said Giovanni van Bronckhorst [Rangers].
“Otherwise we would have bought some other players.
“We had a lot of players going out, a lot of players coming in, and I believe in this squad and we keep going.
“Of course there is talk about new players coming in, it seems like we have loads of money in the bank, which is not the case.
“We have to keep going, we have to make sure the squad we have now, we make them stronger.
“We developed over the past years – not only me, but Steven [Gerrard], we developed players who started at a lower level and reached the highest level of their careers.
“Calvin [Bassey] is a tremendous example of that, because he is playing for Ajax and he had a tremendous development with us in the last year and that is also the way we work at this club.
“I continue working with this team, improving them in every way we can, and making sure we have the success we all want in the future.
“We have some new players, of course they have to gel in, they have to get used to their teammates and we have to develop as a team again.
“We started with Colak, Tom Lawrence came into the team, unfortunately he is out now.
“We have additions who have adapted very quickly but there are loads of improvements [still to come] for them as well, personally but also us as a team.”
Ok Gio, but on your head be it.
The Gers have now slipped up in two away games on the bounce to both Hibs and their Old Firm rivals and the Giovanni van Bronckhorst away record is beginning to look genuinely threatening.
The Dutchman has a less than 50%-win rate from away league fixtures this calendar year, managing only six victories in 13 games. Not exactly title winning form.
Rangers fans are generally sick and tired of passive, defensive displays on the road against sides we should be blowing away and if the Dutchman is uncomfortable with the line of questioning and the reporting now it’s only going to get worse if he can’t remedy it on the road.
Another issue is that Rangers have been decimated by injury almost ever since van Bronckhorst stepped in through the door.
Rangers have up to eight first-teamers missing for the clash with Ajax, with four of them potentially summer signings.
