Giovanni Van Bronckhorst breaks silence on Michael Beale Rangers controversy
Giovanni van Bronckhorst has broken his silence on Michael Beale visiting a Rangers game towards the end of his time as manager.
The Dutch boss was under pressure when Beale was spotted in the stands at Ibrox for a game against Aberdeen after being linked to the role, which at the time was still held by Van Bronckhorst.
The former defender was eventually sacked for poor results and replaced by Beale, with many suggesting a deal may have already been in place at the time of his visit. And speaking to FourFourTwo magazine (Issue 363, 7 March), Van Bronckhorst has admitted he wasn’t a fan of Beale’s actions.
“I don’t think you should really do that as a fellow manager,” he said.
“You shouldn’t sit in the stands at a match when your colleague is feeling the pressure at that moment. I would never have done that.”
Rangers got dose of karma
There’s no doubting that Rangers knew what was going on during this entire scenario, where speculation about Van Bronckhorst’s future was rife and Beale was being linked to the role despite it not being vacant.
Beale was invited back to the club as a guest after his time at the club came to an end as assistant manager under Steven Gerrard, but the timing was all wrong.
The decision to sack Van Bronckhorst was right, because at the time the club were nine points behind Celtic in the title race and had just had the worst Champions League group stage performance in history.
But the situation just got dealt with horribly and considering Beale lasted only a year at the helm before failing miserably himself and being sacked, the club got dealt a dose of karma.
Now the club and team are in a far better position at the top of the SPFL with Philippe Clement in charge, so it worked out in the end. But this was a nasty moment in the recent history of the club.
In other Rangers news, Jeff Stelling slaughters Old Firm clubs live on air after what he saw.
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