Giovanni van Bronckhorst isn’t prepared to sit back and see his reputation tarnished by the decision of the Ibrox board to sack him.
After a year in charge the axe fell on Sunday during a phone call with a club statement issued on Monday morning.
While the message from inside Ibrox is focussed on the SPFL table there is a conflicting story coming out of the van Bronckhorst camp.
Raising close to £30m in transfer fees was beyond Steven Gerrard and his fabled assistant Michael Beale, on the park van Bronckhorst reached the final of the Europa League and the group stage of the Champions League.
Rather than invest those windfalls on the park director loans were repaid as well as a costly pay off to Mike Ashley following the decisions of the club to trash a contract with Sports Direct.
? “I spoke to him just before he was sacked and he was still very hopeful he would be in charge.”
Marcel van der Kraan on Rangers’ decision to sack Giovanni van Bronckhorst and his conversation with the Dutchman ?? pic.twitter.com/MFRT1QMXhp
— Sky Sports Scotland (@ScotlandSky) November 22, 2022
Well, I spoke to him just before he was actually sacked and he was still very hopeful that he would be in charge because he felt if he could get a couple of investments with some new players, some strengthening of the side he could turn things round.
So I think he is very disappointed that they did make that decision.
I have a feeling that the decision wasn’t made by the directors but by the investors and the owners. I think the owners react quick to the fans.
Gio is a grown-up manager, he’s been in football for many years and he’s been there as a players and he said if the fans go against you, I know it’s going to be difficult because that’s a momentum for the board of directors or board of owners.
It’s difficult for them to go against the fans and maybe that was the biggest problem for him, that the atmosphere wasn’t right any more.
Van der Krann is the Dutch journalist closest to van Bronckhorst.