Rangers defy the odds as Gio works miracles
GLASGOW, SCOTLAND - APRIL 17: James Tavernier embraces Giovanni van Bronckhorst, Head Coach of Rangers after their sides victory during the Scottish Cup Semi Final match between Celtic FC and Rangers FC at Hampden Park on April 17, 2022 in Glasgow, Scotland. (Photo by Ian MacNicol/Getty Images)
What an extraordinary spell of 7 days it has been for the Famous Glasgow Rangers.
Through to the UEL semis v Leipzig, through to the cup final v Hearts, VAR confirmed for Scotland, and the Motherwell fixture moved to help our European cause by the SPFL.
You know what’s most remarkable about all this?
We’ve done all of this without Alfredo Morelos, Ianis Hagi, Filip Helander and now Aaron Ramsey.
In fact, Ibrox Noise was one of the first to wave the white flag on the season on the loss of Morelos, believing we’d built the side around him so intrinsically that there was no possible plan B.
We supported Gio 100% but only prayed he’d find a way to compensate.
Remember how Ally tried to make up for losing Naismith in 2011 and didn’t come close?
This was the history repeating itself we feared, but it turned out our faith in Gio was well-founded and he HAS found a way.
Gio has changed the system, and despite losing our most important player, we’ve just won two goliath matches.
The players have stepped up to fill in the gaps of Morelos and the other personnel we have lost, and they’ve shown the guts of champions.
This has been the most astonishing period of the season by a long way – Celtic might already have a trophy this campaign, and a 6-point lead, but Rangers are achieving the near-impossible without some of our most key players.
And it’s set to go on.
Kemar Roofe’s game has been played to by Gio, who’s not tried to replicate Morelos, but instead has accommodate Roofe’s traits to get the most out of him. And boy has it worked.
And it’s given us a season to completely believe in again.
We polled the readers a couple of weeks ago suggesting the league was hanging by a thread and a win at St Mirren was essential otherwise it was game over.
We promise you 100% – about 99% of the replies rejected this post and told us the season was already done.
It’s changed again, hasn’t it.
And it’s without some of our biggest stars.
What a 7 days in the life of Rangers Football Club.