BBC duo desperate for Gio to fail, pressure already being ramped up

For a week we’ve not really heard anything from the usual detractors, Chris Sutton piped up a couple of times about Steven Gerrard’s departure but, other than that, it’s been pretty quiet.

And then, right on queue, just before our league cup semi-final tie with Hibernian, Michael Stewart and Tom English pop up with articles laced with negativity and snide digs.

Stewart said nothing when Gerrard left or when Giovanni van Bronckhorst was appointed, but he has claimed that Rangers will be under pressure because Celtic beat St Johnstone, not exactly an upset, writing in The Sun, he said:

“It’s the first trophy of the season, the first chance to land a telling blow,” he wrote.

“So if they [Celtic] were to get knocked out it would raise questions as to how far along the road are they? Equally, a win would cement the belief that everything under Postecoglou is going the right way.

“And it would also pile the pressure on their rivals across the city as they prepare for a huge game of their own against Hibs back at Hampden.”

And English, rather than praising the appointment of the Dutchman, went down the “but yer skint” approach and suggested that Gio will get little time or money to build his own team in his BBC article:

“On the face of it, Giovanni van Bronckhorst has a strong hand. His club is top of the Scottish Premiership with a place in the Europa League knockout stage very much in reach.

“To get them to this point, his predecessor Steven Gerrard was given money and latitude. How much of either Van Bronckhorst gets is the complicated bit. Like Gerrard, he is being allowed to construct his own backroom, which is a healthy beginning, but what else will he be allowed to build?”

It’s neither a surprise nor unexpected that they simply couldn’t praise the speed at which the board worked or the actual appointment of a manager who has an excellent CV either side of the whitewash.

We saw exactly the same scenario when Gerrard first took charge, he was branded no more than a “youth coach” and he looked “quietly terrified” at the job in hand – things turned out all right in the end, much to Stewart and English’s pain no doubt.