Rising star Vos joins team Gio at Rangers
It is relatively unusual for a new manager to appoint a deputy he has never previously worked with.
But such is the burgeoning reputation of Dave Vos within Dutch football, it only took a couple of conversations with the 38-year-old to convince Giovanni van Bronckhorst he wanted him to become his assistant manager at Rangers.
Vos has been confirmed as van Bronckhorst’s number two in the new-look backroom set-up which had already seen him bring first-team coach Roy Makaay, strength and conditioning coach Arno Philips and analyst Yori Bosschaart to Ibrox with him.
While that trio had all previously been with van Bronckhorst at Feyenoord, he knew Vos only by the reputation he had built up during his work with the youth teams at both the KNVB (Dutch FA) and Ajax.
“I spoke with Dave a couple of times this year in looking for potential new assistants of mine,” revealed van Bronckhorst.
“I heard really good things about him in the youth set-up of Ajax, also with the Royal association (Dutch FA).
“I wanted to talk to him and see how he thinks about football and how he develops his players.
“He is a very young coach, very talented.
“I saw in him a good assistant for me because I think he will help me with developing the squad, helping the players also individually.
“I am really happy with him joining me with this club.”
Vos will have a key role as van Bronckhorst tries to build on the progress achieved at Rangers by his predecessor Steven Gerrard.
Thursday night’s 2-0 win over Sparta Prague at Ibrox, which earned a place in the knockout phase of the Europa League, got the 46-year-old’s tenure off to the perfect start after a frantic few days followinghisformalappointmenton Monday.
“It’s been very hectic,” reflected van Bronckhorst. “Of course, coming in last week it was quite a busy schedule with all the things we had to do, the work permits, the contracts, the staff.
“Also with preparing the team for Prague, we only had two days, but they were long days.
“That’s normal when you are in a busy schedule. It’s even busier when you change countries and change environment, but everyone within the club was really helpful in making sure we were comfortable.
“So I hope to have a normal week ahead. When we have settled in, it will be much easier and we can concentrate on preparing the team for the games.”
Those games come thick and fast, starting at Livingston on tomorrow when Rangers will again be without injured duo Leon Balogun and Kemar Roofe.
“It’s very important [we keep momentum],” added van Bronckhorst. “It will give us confidence for the next games.
“Today was all focusing on recovery. We trained a bit more with the players who didn’t play or didn’t play as much.
“Then tomorrow we focus on Livingston.
“The Prague game is gone and now we need the same preparation for the next game.
“I am a coach and I was a player who was always competing at the top level and a win was always normal.
“You have to win games, you have to win prizes – that’s the aim you have as a player but it's also the aim for me as a manager.”