Graeme Souness tells Jim White that Rangers are ‘fickle’ for sacking Giovanni van Bronckhorst
Graeme Souness has blasted Rangers as “fickle” for sacking Giovanni van Bronckhorst just six months after reaching the Europa League final.
Van Bronckhorst was sacked on Monday morning after a run of seven wins in 18 games, leaving the team nine points adrift of Celtic at the top of the SPFL table and humiliated in the Champions League group stages.
While appearing on talkSPORT with host Jim White (21 November), Souness was asked for a reaction and said while he was sad for Van Bronckhorst he admitted he couldn’t play second fiddle to Celtic.
“I’m sad for him,” he said. “I’ve met him a couple of times, I wouldn’t say he was a friend of mine but I liked him.
“He’ll know that’s the price of the ticket when you manage a big club. Especially Glasgow Rangers where you know what it’s like.
“Rumour city and you just can’t be playing second fiddle to Celtic.
“You go back a short five or six months and they got to the final of a European competition, with a budget which was small fry compared to the other teams they were playing in the latter stages of that tournament.
“So it just shows you how fickle football can be. You think you’re flying, you’re looking forward to the new season because you got to the final of a European competition, could easily have won it, and you end up being under all sorts of pressure because you lost a couple of games to Celtic and some draws that would not be expected from Rangers.”
Realistic
Souness may see it as fickle, but the reality is that the decision to let Van Bronckhorst go was absolutely the right one when you consider the present.
What Van Bronckhorst did at Rangers during his year was great, winning the two domestic cups and reaching the Europa League final, but this season the team has gone backwards and he lost the fans and dressing room.
His style of play wasn’t the most entertaining or attacking, and with the squad he had it should have been doing far better than it has been.
It’s also easily forgotten that Rangers were six points clear at the top of the SPFL last season when he took over and eventually ended the season four points behind them, meaning there was a ten point swing.
He took the team as far as he could go and leaves with great memories, but the time now is right to go our separate ways and bring someone new in to lead the team for the rest of this season and the future.
In other Rangers news, official Rangers partner shares what GvB did immediately after being sacked