Simon Jordan blasts ‘weak’ Giovanni van Bronckhorst after Rangers thumped in Champions League again
Simon Jordan has blasted Giovanni van Bronckhorst as “weak” after he offered up a host of excuses for Rangers being thrashed in the Champions League again.
Ajax earned a 3-1 win at Ibrox on Tuesday night (1 November) to make it six defeats in six games with a -20 goal difference for Rangers, officially making them the worst side in Champions League group stage history.
But after the manager blamed a packed schedule, injuries and the level of his squad for their performance this year, Jordan told talkSPORT (2 November) it was “weak” from him and he should have just admitted that it was “not good enough”.
“Listen there is no point trying to defend the indefensible and I said at the beginning of the campaign there was a real jeopardy that they would get no points in this competition and they would end up bottom with no points, which is what they’ve duly done,” he said.
“This was a windfall. This was a moment in time, they got in because of the achievements of the side last year that took them to a European cup final, lets not lose sight of that.
“Even though they lost that cup final, because of twist of fate and other team’s performances elsewhere they got into the Champions League. So it was a windfall out of nowhere.
“What they’ve got is they’ve got the ability to close the gap on Celtic financially because Celtic have got this £35m windfall. We spoke about it at the beginning of last season with John Hartson and Graeme Souness and Ally McCoist, and they were all talking about who was going to get it, because it would give one team an advantage over the other. Well they both got it.
“Tragically, Rangers have not come away with much credit. But to be honest with you, neither have Celtic. It’s not as if Celtic are shining this wonderful light on themselves that can make people go, ‘look at these two Scottish clubs and one is clearly better’.
“There is clearly, evidently an economic difference between the bulk of the sides competing in the Champions League and Scottish football.
“So while we want to pour onto Rangers, and I do think that Gio should have been stronger and should have called it for what it was – not good enough. It’s not good enough. It’s a learning curve, but it’s not good enough. It’s as disappointing for us as it is for the fans.
“Rather than listing of a litany of reasons why it’s not good enough, injuries, 24 games etc, because nobody wants to hear that. It’s a bit mealy-mouthed and weak.
Poor
There are huge question marks over Van Bronckhorst at Rangers now, not just because of the results but because of the way they were beaten in the games.
They had moments in games against Napoli in Naples and Liverpool at Ibrox, but those games ultimately ended with them conceding ten goals and scoring just once, so it was all for nothing.
Rangers fans were realistic in their ambitions this season, they just wanted to compete and push to show they belonged on that level, but they showed the exact opposite.
With the manager not exactly making waves domestically right now as he sits four points behind Celtic at the top of the table, there is plenty of momentum behind fans pushing for a change of coach in the near future.
Now though Rangers must ensure the money earned from this embarrassment is put to good use to avoid it ever happening again, but good luck getting the board to spend money if they don’t see an immediate need to do so.
In other Rangers news, Jim White absolutely savaged Van Bronckhorst for Rangers’ CL campaign