Giovanni van Bronckhorst has hit out at the way Micky Beale undermined him with a shameless appearance in the Ibrox Directors Box while the Dutchman was fighting to save his job.
Late in October 2022 van Bronckhorst was feeling the heat after Napoli had strolled to a 3-0 win in the Champions League that left the Ibrox side pointless and one more defeat away from becoming the worst team ever to have played in the 30 years of the competition.
At that time Beale had QPR riding high in the Championship with Ibrox fan media sites getting unrestricted access to the Brains Behind Gerrard to showcase just what a purerainjurz man he was.
Following a Friday night match for QPR away to Sheffield Wednesday Beale decided to play to the gallery with a visit to the Louden Tavern then high fiving Connor Goldson and others in the Directors Box with the cameras primed on the soon-to-be Ibrox manager.
Beale’s conduct was lapped up by the Gullible & Deluded, just over a month later he was appointed as manager with the Scottish media and Ibrox fans drooling over all of the fings he was finking about.
Van Bronckhorst was less impressed, telling The Sun:
I don’t think you should really do that as a fellow manager. You shouldn’t sit in the stands at a match when your colleague is feeling the pressure at that moment. I would never have done that.
Discussing the lack of support he got from the board he added:
As far as I’m concerned, our squad could have been strengthened after we reached the Champions League group stage that August at PSV’s expense. Unfortunately, it didn’t happen.
When I got fired a few months later, I missed the support from above. Things didn’t go well at that stage, especially when we fell nine points behind Celtic – that isn’t allowed – but it’s also good to look at the broader picture.
I believe some guys on the board could have handled the situation in another way, especially if you assess how we performed in the previous campaign, but that’s quickly forgotten.
I had other meetings with the board in November 2022 and told them what needed to happen to turn things around.
I hope Rangers can find their way back to the top, as I’ll forever be associated with the club and cherish the wonderful memories. Sadly, I didn’t leave in the way I wanted.
Van Bronckhorst is still on gardening leave with his Ibrox salary while the Brains Behind Gerrard has been sacked twice within six months as he tries to fool another club into falling for his charm.
played for the club that went bust then managed the new one.