The next Rangers manager will be up against it from day one but in a totally different way to the expectations that Giovanni van Bronckhorst walked into when he succeeded Steven Gerrard.
Gio should have won the league, that much is clear. Injuries, tactics and individual errors cost him as Rangers threw away a decent lead added to Celtic going unbeaten from September, the margin of error was small, but it was still our own fault that we didn’t retain the title.
The next and 18th permanent Rangers manager will face an entirely different challenge. He has to restore faith in what the team is trying to do and he has to restore belief – a bizarre claim to make considering where we were just six months ago.
Speaking on BBC Scotland, via Football Scotland, former Gers midfielder and coach Kevin Thomson has had his say on the next appointment and has revealed that he thinks it takes more than being able to set a team up to succeed at Ibrox:
“If I was at the top of Rangers and someone had those doubts and wanted to know about the budget and this and that, they’re not the man for the job.
“You need the mentality to succeed at Rangers and you get that opportunity to work there or at Celtic, these big, massive clubs, you ain’t knocking it back.
“If you’re knocking it back because of budgets or because Celtic are nine points clear, you ain’t the right man for the Rangers job.
“Steven Gerrard will have known the budget, but he took the job even though Celtic had won four trebles. he was also working against a top quality manager. Stevie would have seen that as a challenge, gritted his teeth and it wouldn’t have mattered how far Celtic were in front.”
Thomson is right, and this is why Sean Dyche has been seen as a popular option in recent weeks. The manager has to set the standard and be a leader. Gio captained his country to a World Cup final and yet he couldn’t consistently impart what he was wanting his players to do.
Gio’s best was as good as we’ve ever seen, however, his worst was as bad as anything seen under the likes of Pedro Caixinha or Graeme Murty. There was no happy medium.
Personally, I don’t see why we can’t get both. A leader and a tactician. Over to you Mr Wilson.
I think that Kevin Thomson would be a great appointment for Rangers Manager.
He produced outstanding results with Kelty Hearts and he knows a lot of the Youth and Development players from his time as a Coach at Rangers.
He was an outstanding Rangers player and, most importantly for me, he’s Scottish!!