George Overhill

Sat 12 November 2022 20:17, UK

Giovanni van Bronckhorst will be sacked as Rangers manager before the end of the World Cup break, according to Michael Stewart and Richard Foster.

The BBC Sportscene pundits were united in their assessment on the Dutchman’s future after the Light Blues dropped more points with the 1-1 draw at St Mirren, with Foster even changing his stance on giving time from just three days previous.

The Gers boss was noncommittal when asked if he would stay in a job after the game, and Beale was unimpressed by the answer, suggesting there are deeper issues at the club, meaning van Bronckhorst will be replaced.

Speaking live on BBC Sportscene on Saturday evening (12 November, 7.47pm) Foster said: “I was all for giving him a bit of time but every time they come out on the pitch it’s the same old same old. I think there might be time now, obviously they’ve got the break, to get someone new in.

“I don’t know if the board have been looking for someone, but I think he’ll struggle to come back after the World Cup.”

Beale then cut in: “When you hear him answering questions like that at the end, it certainly doesn’t fill for example the board, who might be pondering one way or the other, with confidence or belief if he’s like, ‘Well, football, don’t know, need to wait and see’.”

He later when on: “They’ve been struggling of late, performances levels have not been good enough, results have not been good enough. Of course there’s a huge injury list there, but when I’m looking at Rangers, forgetting about the injuries there still should be more than enough within the squad.

“It’s just too flat and that, to me, speaks to a bigger problem.

“Will he be around after the World Cup? I don’t think he will.”

Done for?

Every time Rangers drop points at the moment it seems like it is surely the end of the road at Ibrox for the man who led the Bears to the cup and the Europa League final last season.

With Celtic squeaking a win later in the afternoon the gap at the top of the Scottish Premiership is now nine points, and it will take a major collapse for them to give up the title from here.

For European football to be over, and the league looking out of sight, by mid-November is nowhere near good enough, and every game seems to be an ordeal right now.

The board clearly are being cautious, and look like they wanted to get to the World Cup break either way, but whether there is a reason why they aren’t making a change is yet to become clear.

It is no surprise that Beale thinks Gio is done, and it is probably one of the few times that he is of the same opinion as large swathes of the Rangers fanbase, but even the relatively mild-mannered Foster reversed his opinion from Wednesday (9 November).

He probably thought the Gers would at least make it through the final game before the break without further damage, but they couldn’t even manage that with a team whose confidence appears to be on the floor.

Something has got to happen before they return to action because clearly this can’t go on, but whether that is a new manager, or a miraculous recovery job from the current one, is still to be determined.

In other Rangers news, one star player is accused of being the reason why the manager will be sacked soon.