Derek McInnes reckons Giovanni van Bronckhorst was perfect on the pitch as a team-mate at Rangers.
Now, as a rival manager at Kilmarnock, he thinks the Dutchman has shown he can be pitch perfect with his work as an Ibrox gaffer. McInnes will go head-to-head with his former colleague tomorrow when he takes his Ayrshire outfit up the M77 to Govan. At the same time as he was busy pushing his Rugby Park squad towards promotion last term to get into the top-flight, van Bronckhorst was taking Rangers to a Europa League Final.
McInnes got a first-hand look at those efforts when doing work as a TV analyst and instantly noticed that an old myth was being blown away by the Light Blues gaffer as he led his men all the way to the showpiece in Seville. The Killie boss looked back to their playing days and explained: “I really liked him. A brilliant boy and great player, first and foremost.
“We all judge players coming in the door straight away and you could see from the first few training sessions how good he was. A real technician, elegant, smooth in the midfield with a goal in him. Very confident and assured and he plotted his career well. Rangers, Arsenal, Barcelona, World Cup Finals, European stage. He was a dream of a player and really respected in the dressing room. He was laid back and fun as a team-mate, but there was a switch and a competitor and I see similarities as a manager.
“Do you know what I’ve really liked about him? As managers sometimes there is this old adage: Once they cross the white line you can’t help your team. And I don’t believe that for a minute. I actually believe he navigated Rangers through the European stages, in particular, through certain challenges, through 90 minutes.
“His changes were brilliant. Tactically he won so many fights and helped his team win. The job of a manager is to give your team the best chance to win games and I think certainly last season watching them, I went along and covered a few games for TV, I thought he was pitch perfect so many times.
“He had to win tactical fights to help his team and I thought he was very good. He would dip from a back three to a back four, making the changes at the right time and recognising and respecting the opponent’s threats as well. Clearly he has the ability to work on two or three systems. It comes down to having a good level of player as well and the players played the biggest part in it, but there is no doubt the manager helped them.”
Van Bronckhorst was praised across the board for those exploits, but, of course, defeat in Belgium this week to Union Saint Gilloise changed the tone. But McInnes said: “That comes with the territory. If you lose a game you get criticised. It’s no different from any other managerial job.”
Naturally, with the second leg coming up for Rangers against USG on Tuesday, there is belief in some quarters that one of their eyes may drift to it when Killie visit. McInnes puts little store in that notion, but still wants his team to go and make it as tough as possible for the hosts.
He said: “While you cannot dilute the importance of Tuesday night, there will still be a full focus from them on getting a positive result to go into it and we can’t expect to be any different from what we’d normally be expecting. Whether they won on Tuesday, drew, or as they did lost, the options afforded to putting a team out are huge and Rangers ordinarily don’t usually lose two games in a row, so they’ll be looking for a response.
“Knowing Giovanni and how he works, he sees the importance of every game, so we’re not looking at them having one eye on Tuesday. We expect a tough match, but I also want Rangers to expect a tough match and for it to be a challenge to beat us.
“I’m looking for my Kilmarnock team to be resilient, tough to play against, be strong in the duels and also be a bit bolshie. Any time you go to Ibrox or Celtic Park, I always try to put the game into quarters and try to get to that first 20, 25 minute period.
“I’ve gone with different teams, St Johnstone, Aberdeen, and tried to get to half-time. If the home fans are mumping and moaning, that’s music to any away team manager’s ears.
“For us, it’s trying to not let Rangers enjoy the game too much. They’ve got good players, they can all handle the ball well.
“When you play for or manage Rangers you are used to the pressure and the demands that are there. We just have to try to be as good as we can be in the game.
“There will be some of my players playing there for the first time and others who have experienced it.
“I want us to go and experience getting a positive result, not just experience going to Ibrox and sitting back and saying afterwards how good Rangers were.
“I want us to give a good account of ourselves and be as good as we can be.”
READ NEXT
