Lee Johnson slams Rangers board over Giovanni van Bronckhorst sacking and makes Celtic comparison
Lee Johnson is preparing his Hibernian side to face Rangers on Thursday in what will be Michael Beale’s first league match as manager.
Rangers will welcome Hibs to Ibrox as they attempt to close the nine-point gap to Celtic at the top of the Premiership.
But while valuable points are up for grabs for both sides, Johnson was keen to discuss the sacking of Van Bronckhorst prior to the match, and the Hibs boss believes the Gers board made a huge mistake.
“All I see is a good man who’s worked his socks off and lost his job, and a good coaching staff. But, the king is dead, long live the king and good luck to Bealo,” Johnson said, as quoted by The Scotsman.
Johnson also couldn’t resist a dig at Rangers for trailing Celtic, and he insisted that Rangers are just not as good as their Glasgwegian archrivals.
“Celtic are a top side and obviously they’re chasing those guys. From my point of view, you look at it from the outside, they’re just not as good. Simple as that. I’m not there to judge,” Johnson added.
Time will tell
Johnson clearly believes that Rangers didn’t give Van Bronckhorst enough time to turn things around at Ibrox. The Dutchman did manage to reach a European final just a few months before he was handed his marching orders.
But Beale is a good replacement and his high levels of coaching will help to get the best out of what was an underperforming squad with Van Bronckhorst.
The Champions League campaign caused a huge drop in confidence and suddenly the troubles Van Bronckhorst was suffering in Europe started to translate to the league performances.
Once he lost the dressing room there was no way back for him. Beale has already built a rapport with the Gers squad since his coaching days under Steven Gerrard, but only time will tell if he can make the step up to being a high-level manager.
Beale’s short-but-impressive QPR spell suggests he has it in him, but his inexperience is bound to cause some issues and inconsistency. Still, his appointment at Ibrox is one worthy of excitement.
In other Rangers news, a BBC pundit likens Malik Tillman to Lionel Messi after what he did v Bayer Leverkusen