Rangers just days away from sacking Giovanni van Bronckhorst as pundit predicts ‘humiliating’ turn of events
We’re delighted to welcome Tam McManus as our exclusive Rangers columnist as each week he’ll be giving his views on the biggest talking points at Ibrox…
Rangers will sack Giovanni van Bronckhorst if they suffer a “humiliating” defeat at the hands of Napoli in the Champions League on Wednesday, according to Tam McManus.
Van Bronckhorst is fighting for his job at Ibrox after seeing his side narrowly draw with Livingston at home in the Scottish Premiership on Saturday.
Away from the underwhelming domestic results, the Gers have also been pumped every time they’ve played in the Champions League this season.
And if they’re on the end of another heavy loss on Wednesday night in Naples, McManus believes the axe will come down on the Dutchman.
“I think he’s under serious pressure,” McManus told Ibrox News.
“When I look at the performances of late, that result on Saturday has been coming and if it wasn’t for the red card, I don’t think Rangers would have even got a point out of it.
“They got the equaliser in the end but they should have won it. They missed a couple of glorious chances towards the end.
“But it’s not good enough for Rangers to be dropping points against Livingston and they’re now four points behind Celtic.
“They’ve got Napoli away during the week and if they have a real hammering in that, Rangers could pull the plug on van Bronckhorst.
“I just think that the performances are not up to scratch.
“Their Champions League performances have obviously been dire. I know they’ve got a tough group but they’ve not been competitive at all. Napoli are flying and it could be a real hiding for Rangers.
“If Napoli score four, fix or six, van Bronckhorst could get the chop. I think if it’s another humiliating defeat then they could pull the plug on him.
“Aberdeen are coming up as well and that’s a big fixture and then there’s Ajax at home so they’ve got a really tough run of fixtures.
“But with the Rangers are playing, the players aren’t responding to the manager and I’d be really concerned if I was van Bronckhorst.
“A lot of fans have turned on him as well so they’re one result away from full-blown turning on him. He’s under massive pressure.”
Since taking charge of Rangers last November, van Bronckhorst has overseen a disappointing run of results in the Scottish Premiership.
He has, however, won the Scottish Cup, taken the Light Blues to the Europa League final and secured a spot in this season’s Champions League group stages.
In other Rangers news, this Gers star was involved in a “naughty” incident that had a BT Sport pundit talking live on air.