John Bennett may be the only person in Britain who watched Liz Truss squirm and stutter her way through this week’s round of toe-curling radio interviews and breathed a sigh of relief.
Not because the dithering Prime Minister had managed to convince the Rangers chief that she and her new chancellor Kwasi Kwarteng aren’t, as we’re all beginning to fear, a ticking time bomb ready to sink the nation’s economy. But rather that her series of excruciating showdowns with a cast of local presenters from the BBC regions has mercifully knocked the Ibrox vice-chairman out of the running for the most ill-advised interview of the year.
If Bennett hoped to reassure the grumbling Light Blues’ legions that all was well when he sat down for the gentlest of grillings from the club’s in-house TV channel last week, he thought wrong. His two-part, 33-minute address only served to rile up a fanbase already frothing over the club’s recent performances on and off the pitch.
Club 1872 branded the puff-piece performance “patronising” and “out of touch”. You’d have been advised to wait until after the 9pm watershed before wading into the replies online after he insisted the club was not “hoarding” their Champions League cash.
But while the majority of punters weren’t buying some of Bennett’s patter, Gio van Bronckhorst was in full agreement with one point the Gers director made. “I learned long ago not to judge a new Rangers player within weeks,” said Bennett as he appealed for calm after his manager opted to start without a single one of his seven summer signings in their recent Napoli clash.
That move by the Dutchman looked at the time like he was sending a message to the club’s recruitment team. But van Bronckhorst instead insists he was merely looking out for a group of players still getting to grips with their new surroundings.
“Some players need more time than others when they change clubs,” said the Ibrox gaffer. “Getting used to a new level, getting used to teammates.
“That’s a process I’ve seen before as a player, but also as a manager. So I totally agree with what John said. And we just keep on working with them.
“We have a couple of signings who have done really well, some take more time. But you can look around you in any team, abroad or domestically, and it’s not often that you have a new signing that plays straight away and becomes a part of the team.
“Some take more time than others. I think that’s the patience you have to have as a manager.
“We have good examples already in the team of players who are part of the core of this team who took a longer time to adjust to a new club. So it’s normal and no different to what I am used to.
“Every club has its own identity and its own culture. But it’s also the change of country, the change of club, the change of staff, the change of teammates.
“There are a lot of factors which weigh on the the way a player adjusts to a new team. So it is not only about Rangers, it’s also about the change in environment and culture.”
Gers spent north of £10million this summer signing Ben Davies, Rabbi Matondo and Ridvan Yilmaz but there’s been only fleeting appearances from the trio. Davies is in contention for a start this weekend having overcome the injury that disrupted his first few weeks in Glasgow.
Van Bronckhorst expects Yilmaz to come good after his £3.4million Beskitas move but like former ex-Schalke ace Matondo, he’ll have to earn his place. He said: “We got Rabbi because we wanted to have more options.
“It wasn’t just buying him and buying him to put him on the wing. Also we have Scott Wright or Scotty Arfield to put on that wing.
“So it’s a process you have to look at as a manager. Players have to prove themselves over and over again.
“The way we play with our fixed winger or a midfielder who comes in, those are the differences in the way our players play that position. But as far as I’m concerned the best will play.
“Tactically in terms of what we need, but also performances. So far that’s what I look for on the right wing position.”
He added: “Ridvan, of course for him it is a new club and a new country. He is settling in really well. In the beginning it was a bit hard for him to get settled but I see improvement in his training and also in his behaviour.
“He is more settled with the players and for me that is always good to see. We have to see in the next coming weeks that he will feature more in the team. It depends, of course, on his training sessions and what we need in games.”
Celtic’s slip-up against St Mirren last time out as opened the door for Rangers to go back top of the table for half an hour at least when they run out at Tynecastle today. But only if they can improve an away record that so far this season stands at just two wins from six games on the road.
“I’m not bothered about records,” insisted GVB. “I’m not going to go there and look at my away record. I just go out and try to win the game and that’s all I need to know in my head.
“So I will go for a 100% record of three points. That’s all I care about, that’s all I need to know. Records? I don’t see the positives or negatives and it doesn’t influence the way I approach games.
“We had a big defeat (against Celtic), but almost got the three points with nine men against Hibs. But still, there is all to play for.
“We only concentrate on the three points every game. If that takes us top of the league then so be it. But our main objective is to get the three points against Hearts.”
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