Former Rangers manager Giovanni van Bronckhorst has, after two years, FINALLY ended his dignified silence and confirmed a major issue that Rangers supporters all knew about at the time:

He was not supported by the board.

While most fans, even Ibrox Noise included, accepted that Gio’s time at Rangers was probably up, we always added the caveat that he clearly wasn’t being supported by the suits upstairs, and also had to appallingly contend with a diabolical injury crisis which robbed him of John Souttar, Filip Helander and Connor Goldson, and left him with just Leon King, James Sands and Ben Davies in defence to handle both the Champions League and domestic.

And on the topic of the support, Gio has finally admitted it:

“As far as I’m concerned, our squad could have been strengthened after we reached the Champions League group stage that August at PSV’s expense. Unfortunately, it didn’t happen. When I got fired a few months later, I missed the support from above.”

Now, this is slightly inaccurate. That summer Rangers did spend £15M on Matondo, Colak, Ridvan, Davies and got Tillman on loan, so it wasn’t like nothing was spent.

But it’s also fair to agree with him and point out that the level of strengthening offered there was miles below what was needed for the Champions League, and while Rangers thrive in the Europa League, the hike in standard up to the UCL was well beyond what the players who arrived back then could deliver.

But he’s bang on that he wasn’t being supported in general:

“Things didn’t go well at that stage, especially when we fell nine points behind Celtic – that isn’t allowed – but it’s also good to look at the broader picture. I believe some guys on the board could have handled the situation in another way, especially if you assess how we performed in the previous campaign, but that’s quickly forgotten. I had other meetings with the board in November 2022 and told them what needed to happen to turn things around. I hope Rangers can find their way back to the top, as I’ll forever be associated with the club and cherish the wonderful memories. Sadly, I didn’t leave in the way I wanted.”

He’s correct – and it’s also right that he’s now finally offering his side, because he did absolutely the right thing:

He left it alone after being fired, let Rangers recover, and now we’re in a good place, he’s offering his take for the fans to learn the truth at long last.

This is one of those rare occasions when the truth did finally get revealed, and it was more or less what we thought in the first place.

Gio is still well-loved by Rangers fans, few have a bad word to say about him, and we can assure you had the work that summer been better and the money been better spent he’d had won a lot more and probably still been manager.

And if Aaron Ramsey hadn’t been a useless choker, or Goldson had just made that clearance, he’d be a statue outside Ibrox as well.

But now we know.