As well as revealing the truth about the old board and their lack of support for him, ex-manager Giovanni van Bronckhorst has come clean on his feelings on his replacement Michael Beale and the conduct of the now-former football manager.
Speaking out for the first time on a range of topics, the Dutch Rangers and Eredivisie legend admitted he wasn’t happy with Beale, with being undermined in such a way, and has confirmed, as if it was needed said, that he’d never have done the same thing.
He said:
“I don’t think you should really do that as a fellow manager. You shouldn’t sit in the stands at a match when your colleague is feeling the pressure at that moment. I would never have done that.”
It was classless. A lot of Rangers fans did speak out against Beale at the time for this, making it clear they weren’t happy with another manager coming in on van Bronckhorst’s territory when he was especially struggling at Rangers.
We’ve subsequently also learned that not only was he at Ibrox when Gio was feeling the pressure, he hawked himself around Rangers pubs, especially the Louden, speaking to fans and asking them about the Rangers climate and allegedly if they wanted him as manager.
In short, it was diabolical behaviour. Allegedly.
Ibrox Noise, of course, was initially strongly in favour of Beale – we got that one so wildly wrong, because we’d overlooked the modest pressure at QPR, where his record was strong, compared with the must-win territory of Rangers. Being good at Loftus Road is no preparation for tolerating the demands of Ibrox. We didn’t realise that till it was too late.
The point though is Gio felt his behaviour to be poor, to be something no professional should ever do to another pro, and when Beale was being heavily linked with replacing the Dutchman, to swan up north and take in a Rangers match in the presence of a boss who was heavily under the cosh was very bad.
It’s safe to say no one in football likes Beale very much any more, his conduct has now caught up with him and when even the universally-loved Giovanni who wouldn’t say boo to a goose calls you out, you know your number is up.
Would they call it karma?
Who knows, but Gio very much has a future in football, and will be well-received when he finds his next job, if he wants one.
Beale is going to find it a lot tougher.