Giovanni van Bronckhorst said something which has been absolutely slaughtered, including by us at Ibrox Noise, following the disappointment in Holland.

He said, as we remember, that we don’t have the millions of the Liverpools and Napolis and can’t compete, seeming to wave a white flag after match day one.

We say, as much as what he says goes against the ethos of our club and what we stand for, forgive the man.

He was frustrated, off the back of a terrible evening, and he spoke out of turn.

Now, it may be true what he said, on certain levels, but like what Connor Goldson said at Hampden, Gio shouldn’t have said it.

He slipped up, and if there’s anyone who has rarely done that in media conferences it’s Gio.

If he did it deliberately to make the board support him, feeling that they don’t, then it’s a calculated risk.

But we think, on reflection, it was an emotional slip up, a man upset by a horrible evening in Amsterdam, and he just spoke with his heart on his sleeve and would not say that again if given the chance.

Us Rangers fans, at basic level, would agree in a sense – we are millions behind the established UCL teams, we’ve only just regained UCL football and our record sale is £23M. Ajax is £85M.

So we do have some catching up to do.

What Gio nor the fans can excuse, however, is the lack of effort. Whether it was the fear factor we postulated or the players really were just being pathetic and gutless on the night, we’ll never know, but the visit of Napoli on Wednesday better at least see a tonne more gumption and fight.

At home, in front of our crowd, anything less would be sacrilege.

But in terms of Gio’s comments?

We say give him a pass on this one.