No manager wants to go into a match without key players. Especially an Old Firm game.
And after Alfredo Morelos ’ call-up for Colombia last week, it could have been a dilemma for my old team-mate Giovanni van Bronckhorst.
With the prospect of more players being away, he might have considered requesting to postpone the match with Celtic on February 2 and other subsequent games.
But Gio’s reaction has been what I’d expect of a Rangers manager. Of any manager actually.
Look at it from his point of view and if I ever took on a job at a club, this is how I’d feel about it too.
Those are my boys in the dressing-room. But all of a sudden three or four players are called up for their national team and won’t be there for big games.
If I ask the league to call off those matches, it proves that I don’t trust the other players in the squad who might have to come in. What does that say to those players?
Of course it’s a big blow to lose top boys. But if I was one of the others I’d be saying: ‘OK gaffer, they’re good players. But do we not count at all here?’.
I’d be asking why he wasn’t showing any trust in me.
As a manager you have to trust your boys, 100 per cent. You’d WANT to give them an opportunity to play.
And if you show that trust you’ll usually get a positive reaction in return. One thing’s for sure, you’re going to get 100 per cent off them.
If it’s Celtic, they’ll all be desperate to play and do well in an Old Firm game. They’ll want to take their chance.
So there’s no way I’d be looking to postpone the games, no matter who’s missing.
And if they were to call off all three games during international week, Rangers will have a fixture pile-up in the months to come.
It can then become a very long, hard season.
I would trust my boys and I think that’s what Gio’s doing here.
They train every day and are part of the team. The manager will have been telling them since he went in that every player is important and that any of them can play.
So this is a chance to prove it.
If he changes and tries to postpone the game, how can Gio stand in front of those players and look them in the eye ever again?
You don’t want to be in that position as a manager so he’s doing the right thing.
Don’t get me wrong, that doesn’t mean he won’t want to add to his squad before that Celtic game and the transfer window closes.
The fans want to see signings, especially after the draw at Aberdeen on Tuesday night which was disappointing.
But two things matter here. Firstly, Rangers have to be careful with the money they spend.
And also, if they do bring someone in, they have to be ready to make an immediate impact on the first team.
Giovanni doesn’t need any more players for the bench. He needs guys who can make a difference.
It looks like it would take £500,000 to get John Souttar in early from Hearts.
That’s a lot to spend in January for a player who is arriving in the summer anyway. They can’t spend just for the sake of it.
Remember, Rangers are missing a lot of players through injury and Joe Aribo is away with Nigeria.
If those players were available at Pittodrie, the result could have been different. But they dropped two points and the chase is on now from Celtic in the title race.
They both desperately want that £40million Champions League prize at the end of the season.
Obviously Rangers don’t want to lose it then regret not adding the quality they needed in the January window.
So Gio will be looking, the machine behind the scenes will be working.
But I repeat, it has to be the right player at the right price.
And the most important thing is that any new signing who comes in is a game-changer.
We had it in 1998/99 when Neil McCann joined us from Hearts in December.
We had a very good team and plenty of left-sided players.
But he gave the team a big boost at that time.
It also showed the rest of us, like myself and Gio, that we had to fight for our place. Neil had a great impact and made a huge contribution to us winning the title.
Who can forget his two goals at Celtic Park when we won the league? He took our whole team up a notch, he gave us that burst.
If Rangers go for a player now, he has to do the same. You are buying them for the impact.
These players are hard to get but Giovanni has good contacts and he’ll be searching. It’s a crucial one.
There is no point getting someone in to strengthen the back-ups. It must be someone who steps up straight away to help the team.
