Ole Gunnar Solskjaer’s comments today really do ram home the problems Giovanni van Bronckhorst had at Rangers, particularly with the board, as the ex-Manchester United manager spoke to the Athletic about the problems he faced at Old Trafford, many of which ring true for Gio’s ill-fated end to Rangers.
Rangers’ ex-boss is back in the spotlight after being warmly welcomed to the De Kuip last night as his old side overcame his former nemesis Celtic fairly comfortably, but it’s what the Norwegian said about his time in England that is the most scathing and telling.
He said:
“Erling Haaland, before he made his Salzburg debut. Declan Rice wouldn’t have cost what he did in the summer. We discussed Moises Caicedo, but we felt we needed players ready for there and then. We wanted Jude Bellingham badly – he’s a Man United player – but I respect he chose Dortmund. That was probably sensible.”
This comment is in relation to how Man Utd did not buy the players he wanted, just like how Giovanni didn’t get any players he wanted either.
Ross Wilson, former Ibrox Sporting Director claimed Gio didn’t want any players from the Dutch market, but then one year later the club is signing Sam Lammers, Dutch striker ex-PSV, Feyenoord’s Danilo, and ex-Feyenoord Cyriel Dessers.
It’s a very, very odd state of affairs – instead Gio got Tillman, Matondo and Ben Davies.
Solskjaer’s words show how a manager doesn’t get the players he wants half the time, and Gio clearly didn’t get pretty much any – unless you have an argument to claim he wanted James Sands and Mateusz Zukowski?
It’s ridiculous how little he was backed by his board, and equally ridiculous how the new board has had to blindly back his successor in whatever he wanted, no matter how preposterous or ill-fitting.
No, Gio wasn’t supported, and Beale’s been too supported.
Never seems to work, does it.