Rangers accused of unfair Giovanni van Bronckhorst treatment amid shock Michael Beale developments
Giovanni van Bronckhorst feels it was “too coincidental” for Rangers to host Michael Beale while he was still in charge, a source has told the Scottish Daily Express.
The QPR boss made a surprise appearance at Ibrox for the 4-1 win over Aberdeen on 29 October as a “five star guest of the club”, while the Dutchman was coming under pressure for a dreadful Champions League campaign and another heavy loss at Celtic.
Van Bronckhorst was sacked on Monday (21 November) and Beale is a leading candidate to replace him, which has now led to recriminations to start emerging over how the situation has come about.
According to the Express report the now-former boss was left “bemused” by the Ibrox visit from Beale, and a source close to him has suggested that the club were laying the ground work for his replacement right in front of him.
The Van Bronckhorst source said: “Gio was very disappointed when he found out that Michael Beale was a guest of the club at that game. It was too coincidental.
“He had a feeling then that things were slipping which he felt was unfair and unjustified.
“Of course, it now seems that Michael Beale will be taking over at Rangers. What a surprise.”
Harsh treatment
It wouldn’t be the first time in football that this has happened but it does show a certain level of disrespect to a manager to be publicly fraternising with a potential replacement in such a way.
The pressure was undoubtedly on the former Feyenoord boss anyway given the results so far this season, but having Beale in the stands for what might have otherwise been a morale-boosting win won’t have done anything to lift it.
The writing appeared to be on the wall when Steven Gerrard’s former number two then spoke in glowing terms about his time in Glasgow a week later, while doing little to dampen speculation that he had his eye on the job.
The chances that he gets it appear to be high at this point, now that the board have decided to pull the trigger on the previous regime.
He maintains a good reputation at Rangers for his influence on the 55th title win while Gerrard was in charge, but his exit to Aston Villa with the former Ibrox boss will have left some fans unhappy, and he has less than half a season’s experience as a manager in his own right still.
If he gets the job and brings about an improvement in results then doubts will soon fade, as will discomfort over how the club went about bringing him in.
But Van Bronckhorst, for all that he hasn’t cut it in charge this year, or in the league last season, has a right to feel hard done by if the man who ultimately takes his job was being wooed by the club in front of both him and the watching world.
In other Rangers news, three men in the running for the Ibrox job now want talks with the club, including one who is younger than multiple first team players.