It can never be overstated the level of miracle Giovanni van Bronckhorst has achieved this season, with the UEL final beyond anyone’s wildest dreams.

But the reality is what our Dutch Master has done has been close to water from wine.

If we look at the squad he inherited, the genius becomes clear:

McGregor: £0
Tavernier: £300,000
Goldson: £3M
Bassey: £300,000
Barisic: £1.5M
Jack: £0
Lundstram: £0
Davis: £0
Aribo: £300,000
Kent: £7.5M
Arfield: £0
Wright: £300,000
Sakala: £0

Combined cost of the bulk of the players who got to Seville: £13.3M. And most of that was on one player.

That Gio has taken a squad who effectively cost well below £15M and overcome about 5 sides at an average of £400M each in value is nothing short of one of the biggest football fairytales to ever take place.

It’s beyond a miracle.

There is no question our manager isn’t getting anywhere near enough credit. Gerrard couldn’t get close to this – he did lay the foundation, but Gio built the rest, finalised this ‘economically-viable’ squad in world-beaters. Gerrard couldn’t get close to beyond the last 16, Gio destroyed it.

The best manager we’ve ever had?

We still halt at saying that. You all know how we feel about the greats of the past, and as yet, Gio hasn’t ‘won’ anything.

But he’s created a miracle.

And those aren’t easy to come by.