#GIOOUT was trending on Twitter last night as stunned Ibrox fans reacted to their side’s 7-1 Champions League defeat from Liverpool.
The in-built Superiority Complex took a massive hit as a shadow Liverpool side went 3-1 up, substitute Mo Salah scored a hat-trick in 6 minutes and 12 seconds then to round things off Harvey Elliott blessed himself ahead of his goal confirmation after VAR over-ruled a flagging linesman.
Playing in the Champions League has been a painful experience for the bears who watched their club die in 2012 then lumped into the Tribute Act set up by Charles Green and the Scottish football authorities.
Last season’s freakish run to the final of the Europa League gave root to the suggestion that Giovanni van Bronckhorst had a side geared to succeed in European football. And then reality booted in.
Losing back-to-back matches 4-0 to Celtic and Ajax was followed by a heroic 3-0 defeat from Napoli then losing to two set-pieces at Anfield.
Scott Arfield (note spelling) send delusions sky high last night but typical defending from James Tavernier allowed Liverpool to quickly level the scored.
The second half won’t be forgotten by those that witnessed it as Jurgen Klopp’s side scored six times without reply.
Teenager Leon King was left as powerless as 40-something Allan McGregor while the goals flew into the net.
Afterwards the reaction was predictable. Sacking van Bronckhorst and his coaching staff would be a costly exercise with a true-blue manager required that understands the traditions of the 10-year-old Tribute Act.
I thought Juventus in 95 was bad, this was far worse. They may be levels way above us but that doesn’t excuse the shambles tonight, big questions about Gios future now.
— FGAU (@PurpleStandard) October 12, 2022
Still time to at least try save our domestic season. Gio can not survive this. Ross Wilson should follow him out the door.
— ? (@FacelessRanger) October 12, 2022
Times up Gio, that was mortifying.
— David Skeoch (@ski19640) October 12, 2022
Can’t believe I’m gonna say this, cos I’ve always backed a manager, but Gio has to go after a result like that
— Ian Welsh (@IJW_RFC_55) October 12, 2022