Giovanni van Bronckhorst has admitted that there is a script that leads to ‘end of story’.
That story got underway at the start of September with successive 4-0 defeats from Celtic and Ajax, since then the Dutchman has been attempting to stall the inevitable.
Further Champions League humiliations have been delivered but the biggest issue is the complete disconnect of the playing squad. You don’t need to look too far for accusations that they’ve checked it.
As every under pressure manager knows it is far easier for a CEO to replace a manager than pay off 25 players on contracts ranging from eight months to three years.
Wins over Motherwell and Dundee confirmed just how bad things had become at Ibrox, the draw against Livingston was no big surprise with Napoli, Aberdeen and Ajax presenting a far tougher challenge than the last three fixtures.
Discussing his own end game, van Bronckhorst told The Sun:
What can I say? I’m trying my best. As a manager you have to stick with your beliefs and way of playing.
Sometimes it’s not going the right way. I also understand that but it’s one thing for sure when you’re underperforming as a coach or a team and not getting results, people will not buy into it.
If it’s not going well then eventually it’s end of story. It’s the same for everyone but I think we can still turn it around and can play the way we can play.
I’m not happy with our performance. I’m not happy with the way we started. How we conceded the goal is impossible, but it happened.
In the whole game today we weren’t in the game. That’s frustrating. I don’t know the stats but it looked like we lost every second ball and we didn’t win our duels. It’s no excuse if you play three times a week.
Everyone in my team can play three times a week with the same intensity and character. That’s no excuse for me.
Van Bronckhorst and his coaching staff are under contract until May 2025.