It’s been so good, but yet it’s been so bad.
There was an inevitability about Giovanni van Bronckhorst’s sacking. It was a reflection of recent results but also how the supporters have been voicing their opinion in recent weeks.
We’re only in November and we’ve seen a calamitous Champions League campaign, with Rangers trailing Celtic by nine points in the title push. It’s almost as if there was a malaise setting in at Ibrox.
Yet, timing is everything and, right now, new manager Michael Beale has a bit of that.
With the World Cup now in full swing, he has a chance to assess what state the squad is in, what can be improved on the training ground and, more importantly, what work can be done in the January window.
Make no mistake, this isn’t the same job Van Bronckhorst faced a year ago, when he had to get a tune out of a team who had previously won the league. This is a massive rebuild.
It’s going to be two of the most important transfer windows coming up for the club that they’ve had in recent years. They have to learn their lessons from the last window and get it right.
Recruitment is possibly the biggest issue facing their former first-team coach, Beale. Players have been there for a long time who were once assets but are now drifting towards the end of their contracts. Glen Kamara, Ryan Kent, Alfredo Morelos. Are they still worth what was suggested even a year ago?
Any team is going to miss the quality of Joe Aribo and Calvin Bassey and I don’t think the fans expected replacements to immediately hit the same levels. However, the recruitment across the board wasn’t good enough.
There were a lot of names suggested to replace Gio, plenty of them of a high calibre. Bringing Beale back from Queens Park Rangers is a call the Rangers board simply have to get right.
Beale, who was the early front runner, clearly knows the club well, having been there as part of Steven Gerrard’s backroom staff, and he’s now gone out to become his own man at QPR. He knocked back the Wolves job, which shows you how highly regarded he is.
The Englishman took a lot to do with the tactics at Ibrox and what happened on the training ground. He will be a good and popular fit among supporters.
‘Champions League drained confidence’
I still feel sorry for Van Bronckhorst after his sacking.
To reach the final of the Europa League was a sensational achievement, only to narrowly miss out. They then won the Scottish Cup, which brought a positivity about Rangers and the squad.
You then have qualification for the Champions League after 12 years, but if anything, that turned into a hindrance.
The confidence drained from the players with each passing defeat and that seeped into their domestic performances. There are good players there and there needs to be a collective effort now to raise levels and hunt Celtic down.
I can’t see that happening. I believe this season Celtic will be too strong, with a nine-point gap, and that’s why these next two transfer windows are so crucial.
For Beale, there’s a lot of work to be done.
Steven Thompson was speaking to BBC Scotland’s Scott Mullen
