By Duncan Wright
After just eleven months it is now a question of when, as opposed to if, Giovanni Van Bronckhorst’s reign as Rangers manager will end. Following a 1-1 draw with Livingston any goodwill left with even the most ardent of his supporters has vanished.
At the full time whistle on Saturday boos rang round Ibrox for the second time in four days. On Wednesday it was an insipid performance against Dundee in the League Cup Quarter Final but Rangers performance was arguably even worse against David Martindale’s well organised Livingston. This was reflected in the 1-1 scoreline with Rangers only rescuing a point after John Lundstram volleyed home a 90th minute equaliser.
In truth Rangers performance should not have come as a surprise to anyone who has watched them of late. Passive, insipid and with an unshakable malaise prevalent through the whole squad, the situation for van Bronckhurst and his backroom staff looks unrecoverable. It seems unfathomable that van Bronckhorst led Rangers to the final of the Europa League just six months ago. The glorious run to Seville seemed to create a bond between club and supporters that had not been seen for some time. United as one it felt like the club were progressing both from a footballing perspective but also in terms of their standing within the game in Europe.
In hindsight it appears Seville was the managers, and also this crop of players, peak. The regression that has taken place in the last six months has been alarming and needs to be addressed with a sense of urgency, before the legacy of Seville becomes nothing more than an unexpected adventure embraced wholeheartedly by the Rangers support.
Rangers increasingly appear devoid of ideas, do not have an identified style of play and are tactically impotent. Their play is often one dimensional, relying heavily on crossed balls into the box where in form striker Antonia Colak has perhaps masked some of the issues present due to his phenomenal strike rate. Against Livingston Rangers played 73 crosses into the Livingston box, something David Martindale was fully expecting. His team were set up to deal with this tactic and unsurprisingly coped with the bombardment of crosses with relative ease.
However the performance against Livingston cannot be taken in isolation. Too often this season Rangers have delivered poor performances, lacking creativity and a tactical awareness to change things when it’s not working. A 2-2 draw with Hibs at Easter Road in August, a poor refereeing performance aside, was an early indication of the problems that have underpinned Rangers league form this season.
Whilst there has been successes on the pitch this season, most notably the victory over two legs against PSV to secure Champions League qualification, there has been a downward spiral in performance since that considerable achievement. A 4-0 loss to Celtic, a nervy 2-1 victory to Dundee United at Ibrox, and an unconvincing 2-1 victory away to Motherwell. Results in the Champions League Group Stage have been at best disappointing, and at worst embarrassing. Anyone can see there have been numerous signposts pointing to what happened at Ibrox against Livingston.
There are of course other factors to take into consideration when discussing a manager’s performance, notably the support provided by the Board and the clubs dealings in the transfer market. If Van Bronckhurst’s performance as manager is to be scrutinised, then that of Director of Football, Ross Wilson must also be.
Rangers current squad has not been strengthened on the back of last season’s Europa League journey and there are question marks about a number of the club’s recent signings. Whilst Van Bronckhorst is likely to pay for failing to deliver results on the park by losing his job, there needs to be serious questions asked across all areas of the clubs footballing operation, not least in terms of signings and squad management.
Perhaps the most damning indictment for Van Bronckhorst just now is the complete lack of faith the Rangers support have in him to turn things round. He no longer has any credit left in the bank and even the most moderate of fans are demanding change. Limping on to the World Cup break would be extremely unwise. The club needs to be decisive and act now whilst there remains hope of salvaging the season.
