Alarm bells over ‘ The Horseshoe’
ALITTLE over a year after being appointed as Steven Gerrard’s successor Giovanni van Bronckhorst has been dismissed as Rangers manager.
The Dutchman’s tenure in the Ibrox hot seat could be described as a rollercoaster with unbelievable highs sadly outweighed by the domestic mediocrity that has ultimately cost him his job.
The recent spate of poor results and dismal performances have forced the Rangers hierarchy to act with the club trailing leaders Celtic by nine points in the league.
Despite a heroic run to the Europa League final and delivering a long- awaited Scottish Cup, van Bronckhorst never truly won over the supporters with many criticising the level of performances and the lack of entertainment on show.
The support was pre- warned about his style of play when he was appointed as manager back in November 2021.
That’s when Johan Brinkel from the popular Feyenoord fans podcast Kein Geloel first made us aware of ‘ the horseshoe’ when discussing van Bronckhorst’s philosophy.
Despite delivering the Eredivisie title in 2017 as well as two Dutch cups and two Super Cups, Brinkel described van Bronckhorst’s Feyenoord team in stark terms. He told the Rangers Review: “If you look at the football, that’s the big negative side. It was very predictable, not always as fun as we’d hoped. He’s quite conservative as a coach.”
Looking back now, Brinkel’s words ring prophetic given the flatness of many of the displays being served up.
When asked about what fans could expect to see in a van Bronckhorst Rangers side, Brinkel set some alarm bells ringing when he said: “When we talk about van Bronckhorst we always say ‘ The Horseshoe’ because what he always did, that irritated fans so badly, was the left- back played it to the centre back, the centre back played it to the other centre back and the centre back played it to the right back and then the other way around so it was quite predictable.
“Teams figured out if you basically stopped our midfielders from being part of the game, Feyenoord doesn’t know what to do. Even though we had better teams from 2017 onwards, we didn’t become champions anymore, we didn’t play a role in the championship whatsoever. We won the cup in 2018 but the best season was the 2016- 17 season when we became champions.
“We sold a couple of guys and the guys we got in weren’t that good so the money we spent was not well spent. They basically stopped developing and got worse so he never replicated that fantastic magic season in 2017.”
The horseshoe term has been frequently used to describe Rangers under van Bronckhorst, particularly this season, given the largely pedestrian performances where very few chances are created despite dominating possession. This appeared a manager set in his style, an inflexibility which has ultimately cost him two managerial jobs.
At the time of his appointment, there was, understandably, an overwhelming sense of excitement given he was a well- liked former player but you cannot help but think if he hadn’t had that previous relationship whether there would’ve been that clamour for his appointment. At the time, Sporting Director Ross Wilson said it was not a ‘ prerequisite’ that he was a ex- player but it surely aided his chances of taking over.
That being said, no- one can take away the fact he masterminded one of the most incredible European runs in living memory as Rangers came agonisingly close to winning the Europa League.
When you also factor in the Scottish Cup triumph and Champions League qualification by negotiating two high- quality European teams in Union Saint- Gilloise and PSV Eindhoven then you could argue he has overachieved in certain areas.
But, Rangers are not a club known for resting on their laurels and dining out on past glories. Football is ultimately an entertainment business and what was being served up was turgid and uninspiring.
Brinkel’s point about selling players and not replacing them with similar quality is also intriguing and parallels can be drawn with the departures of Calvin Bassey and Joe Aribo in the summer with the jury certainly out on some of the acquisitions.
When van Bronckhorst departed Feyenoord after four years, there was a feeling of relief among fans. Brinkel said: “I think most were quite happy when he left. Four years in football is a long time so we do like the fact that he wasn’t fired, he left through the front door. Everybody said, ‘ Ok, we respect you, so let’s finish this together’.”
Much like what happened at De Kuip, van Bronckhorst ended his short tenure at Ibrox with his team playing poor football. He will undoubtedly go on and manage again but wherever he ends up, a failure to learn from past mistakes will likely see history simply repeating itself if he positions himself with a club fighting for trophies.
Personally speaking, you can’t help but feel a sense of sadness that his time at the club has come to an end. Such a decision means Rangers have underperformed but he is someone who represented the club with dignity and was a pleasure to deal with.
He was approachable and someone you felt you could engage and talk football with freely. In one of his last pre- match press conferences, he spoke about his plans following the St Mirren match and his face lit up when explaining he was heading back to the Netherlands to reunite with his family.
You can’t help but feel for him on a human level in what has been a difficult few months when his family were in another country. He was a man under considerable pressure and with that weight now lifted from his shoulders, it will likely come as something of a relief even if it’s tinged with sadness and frustration. While it didn’t work out, he can leave with his head held high that he carried out a tough job with the dignity and professionalism it deserves.