It seems like Steven Gerrard will be leaving Rangers in the not too distant future.

BBC Sport are reporting that Aston Villa are working on a deal to bring the Gers manager back to the Premier League and that ‘significant developments are expected in the next 48 hours’.

While Rangers fans will be disappointed to see Gerrard leaving the club, especially after he stopped Celtic claiming their tenth league title in a row last season, obviously some will get excited by a few of the potential names that could be linked with the managerial hotseat at Ibrox.

Top of the list for many of Glasgow’s bluenoses will be former hero Giovanni van Bronckhorst, who played for Rangers between 1998 and 2001.

Gio was a sublime midfielder, who the Gers support took to their hearts during his stay in Govan. He’d leave Ibrox for Arsenal before winning a host of trophies at FC Barcelona. He would also captain the Dutch national team and would represent the Oranje an incredible 106 times.

After his sterling playing career Van Bronkhorst would return to his first club Feyenoord as assistant manager and then as their gaffer.

In his four season in charge at De Kuip, Giovanni would secure the KNVB Cup and then bring the Eredivisie title back to Rotterdam after an eighteen year wait.

He surprisingly followed his time back in the Netherlands with a job bossing Guangzhou R&F in China. That appointment would last just under a year and he left with his side finishing in a lowly eleventh spot.

Now why this manager, who was unsuccessful in China, excite the Rangers fans?

Well obviously his previous links with Ibrox help but more importantly in my opinion was his success at Feyenoord. They were never heavily backed at that time but he built a winning squad and beat out Ajax and PSV.

He did that by playing good football but he’s a boss that understands the need to change things when Plan A isn’t going right and one who knows that substance (IE winning games) is more important than style:

“I like the dynamic: 4-3-3 and being able to switch. It’s about winning the match. That can be done in many ways: with attacking football, with a good block… Every opponent is different. Preparing of a team at a match and the dynamics in a match itself, I think that is the great thing about being a trainer.”

Via Foottball-Oranje.com

Those are traits commonly associated with Rangers managers, or at least the best ones.

Being out of a job currently should also interest the Rangers board. It would make for slightly easier negotiations and I am sure the forty-six year old would be ready to return to football management after his break from the game.

The Dutchman has also stated previously that he was flattered to be linked with the Gers post previously:

“Rangers are a special football club, and I always look out for their results.”

“For me to have been a part of their history is a wonderful feeling, and very humbling.”

“To be the manager of Rangers is a huge honour, of course. I’ve been linked with it once or twice, and that was very nice.”

“You never know what may happen in the future, and we all know that it is never wise to try to predict where your career may take you.”

“You never know what happens because I know the club and have nice feelings for it.”

Via The Sunday Post

Other names might crop up and excite the Light Blues support. Rino Gattuso springs to mind but I think Van Bronkhorst would bring a calmer head and one who would be better suited to keep things ticking over for the remainder of this campaign before potentially making major changes next summer.

I don’t think that the Ibrox faithful would be enamoured if a Derek McInnes or an Alex Neil were to get the job. They haven’t won much as managers and don’t have that star name Gio has or Gerrard brought to the club.

I really think the board could bring in Giovanni van Bronckhorst and that would soften the blow of losing Steven Gerrard but will they be that ambitious or will they go for the ‘safe’ choice of McInnes and risk angering the support?

I’d guess that the Scottish Premiership champions will plump for the former Aberdeen boss and for me that will be a pity.

Posted on November 10th, 2021 by scott
Filed under: Article