Honeymoon period wasn’t long for Gio
It didn’t come as a massive shock to see Giovanni van Bronckhorst relieved of his duties as Rangers manager last Monday.
That said, I still felt for him. It’s never pleasant to see anyone lose their job.
I actually think Giovanni was a wee bit unlucky to be removed. However, being nine points behind Celtic, he was always going to be under pressure.
Just a couple of weeks ago, I wrote that this World Cup break in domestic football would give owners and executives an opportunity to change managers. Rangers decided to go down that road. Last season, Giovanni reached the Europa League Final, and won the Scottish Cup.
In the current campaign, he guided Rangers through to the lucrative group stages of the Champions League.
That was all during one year in charge, but it wasn’t enough to satisfy the supporters or the hierarchy.
His honeymoon period didn’t last too long, that’s for sure.
There has been plenty of discussion about who will replace Giovanni, and I’m sure there will be someone in place before the AGM next month.
I don’t think that the meeting between the shareholders and the Ibrox Board on December 6 will be a quiet one.
Supporters will want to know about the plans for player recruitment – as will any new manager.
More than ever, it’s an important part of any football club, and it needs to be right.
During the next two transfer windows, there are bound to be changes to the Rangers squad.
Some will go through the process of their contracts running down, others will come to the end of their loan deals, and some will be seen as surplus to requirements.
They all have to be replaced with quality. That’s not easy to do, but Rangers must find a few really good players.
The guys who left last summer, such as Calvin Bassey and Joe Aribo, weren’t replaced by better footballers.
Results suffered as a result, and Giovanni lost his job.
Lessons, I’m sure, will have been learned.