Leon Balogun has confirmed Giovanni van Bronckhorst is the reason he was released from Rangers, and Ross Wilson was the one who tried to keep him.
The big Nigerian spoke to the Beautiful Game Podcast prior to Michael Beale’s QPR departure, and revealed, contrary to what many Rangers fan believed, ourselves at Ibrox Noise included, that Giovanni was the one who decided he didn’t want to keep the defender and Ross Wilson was the one who was fighting with Gio to keep the former Werder man.
He said:
In short terms, Wilson tried to keep him, Gio was at best unconvinced and at worst wanting rid, and his opinion was final.
This is a real eye-opener for fans – the incompetence of Gio laid bare, the reality that Ross Wilson might not be the big baddie at Ibrox we all believe, and that GVB in fact was the sole architect behind Balogun and almost certainly Niko Katic’s exit too.
There’s one thing the board pinning blame on Gio, another when an extremely well-respected former player also reveals the same thing about the ex-manager just like Katic did.
Unfortunately, Gio’s Rangers era was littered with a pile of appalling misjudgements, ego and stubbornness from the manager, who in the end, it seems, was doing a tonne more harm than good and while a Rangers man, we’re not so sure now about the ‘good’ part.
He was out of his depth and cracked under the pressure.