Daniel Feliciano

Mon 7 November 2022 9:40, UK

Michael Stewart believes Rangers need a leader to take charge of the dressing room as Giovanni van Bronckhorst edged closer to the sack after defeat to St Johnstone.

The Ibrox club fell seven points behind Celtic at the top of the SPFL table following a 2-1 loss on Sunday (6 November), with the pressure on the manager increasing heavily as club partners and pundits called for him to be sacked.

But speaking on BBC Sportscene (6 November, 20:45), Richard Foster claimed the title race wasn’t over yet and cited last season’s charge from Celtic and Stewart agreed, although he admitted that something needs to change.

“I think he’s under a lot of pressure, but you always are being the manager of Rangers,” Foster said.

“I think because of the European campaign, yes you fall seven points behind Celtic and that’s a lot, it’s panic stations, but we only need to look at last season and what Celtic done and what Ange Postecoglou did to deal with it.

“He was calm, he said they need to be almost perfect from here on out and it turned out they almost were.

“The league is definitely not over, but off the back of the really disappointing European result where the players looked sapped of energy, sapped of confidence, they’ve got no real direction of play, and I think they need to get to this World Cup.

“They need to win the next two games, get to the World Cup break and try to re-group and re-energise.

“Van Bronckhorst is under a lot of pressure but I don’t think it’s terminal at the moment.”

Stewart then responded, and agreed that Van Bronckhorst’s side look like they need something to change.

“I’m not too sure I can give them much hope, but they’ll be looking for the team to give them a little bit of hope,” he said.

“As Richard said there I think he’s spot on. You compare and contrast to last season when Celtic were in a difficult position, there was a leader there that calmed things down.

“Even though things weren’t ideal, you felt as though they were moving in the right direction.

“With Rangers this season, it just looks like they’re devoid of something and they need someone to grab it by the scruff of the neck and lead it, and at the moment it doesn’t look obvious as to who that is.

“Whether it’s the manager or the players, it looks underwhelming.”

Change needed

The club is struggling badly, and the difference between this season and last is that Celtic were improving from the previous campaign while Rangers are getting worse.

The level of the squad has gone backwards after Calvin Bassey, Joe Aribo, Leon Balogun and Nathan Patterson all left and while replacements were brought in, they’ve not been of the sufficient quality.

Add to that the poor form of key players like Ryan Kent and Alfredo Morelos, neither of whom should even be in the team right now if you ask most fans, and the team just isn’t good enough.

A new manager would bring fresh ideas and a new motivation to the squad, and if selected correctly would ideally bring some attacking intent to the team too.

Van Bronckhorst had a fine run as manager, especially in Europe last season, but this relationship has run it’s course and it’s best for everyone if the two part ways heading into the World Cup break.

In other Rangers news, Ross Wilson could make contact with ex-colleague as GvB edges closer to Ibrox exit