Peter Grant has come to the defence of Rangers manager Gio van Bronckhorst amid loud calls to sack the Dutchman with the Light Blues enduring a disastrous last few weeks.
Rangers have crashed out of Europe without a picking up a single point and lie nine points behind arch-rivals Celtic in the Scottish Premiership title race. The Ibrox club don't have a game for over a month due to the World Cup break and that is seen by some as an opportunity for a change to occur. But Grant points to the loss of key players to a lengthy injury list as well as the behaviour of striker Alfredo Morelos as reasons why fans should afford Van Bronckhorst more time.
He told the Go Radio Football Show: "I think he still should be manager, and I know people will be saying 'yeah you are saying that as a Celtic man'. No, because I think he deserves the opportunity and the reason I'm saying that is they've got an injury list of ten players. You could probably say eight of them would be in the team, that's as far as I would go and one of their main players at the start of the season (Tom) Lawrence was not involved, they've had (Ianis) Hagi out for most of the time he's been there, so all these players.
"If the full squad was available then I would probably have a completely different scenario as I've been there as a manager I know what it's like when you've got top players missing. You've got an 18-year-old playing at centre-back, and no matter what level you are at; tell me anywhere else in the world where an 18-year-old is playing at any of the top teams in the Champions League at centre-back? Because it's a position where you need experience in the respect of that and knowhow. That's when you are playing with another experienced player. There's been two young boys and a midfielder playing at centre-back, so it's very very difficult.
"I'm taking the manager's side on this. He's had a lot to deal with around the [Alfredo] Morelos situation. The manager is going into one of the biggest European games and has to leave him back home. That's soul-destroying as a manager."
Grant wasn't done there as the former Alloa, Dunfermline and Norwich boss admitted he would've axed Morelos if he was in Van Bronckhorst's position. The Colombian, who is out of contract in June, has continually let his side down this season from being left out the Light Blues squad for a crunch Champions League play-off with PSV due to being unfit to waltzing around the pitch looking disinterested in recent games as Rangers lost more ground on Celtic.
"I would've probably lost my job because I know how stubborn I can be," confessed Grant. "If he's letting the team down and the club down, I think that's the most important thing because can I trust him again if he hasn't done what he was supposed to have done and what we have seen since. For me, I'd have probably said he's got to go.
"I understand Rangers situation because at that particular time everyone was saying he was worth X, Y and Z so I can understand the reasoning behind that but for me as a manager, I'd have found that very very difficult because I'm going into one of the biggest European games to qualify for the Champions League, the amount of money that was at stake, everything, and he was unprofessional. That for me is unforgiving.
"If you are in a football club, you are their player for 24/7 because that's why I say you've got to be professional 24/7. We can let our hair down now and again for sure but there's times and places for it. They were going into a Champions League game and the manager has got to leave him behind, I found that so difficult and it's very difficult for Gio in the respect of that because he's got [Antonio] Colak who has done fantastically well for them goals wise, but if he gets injured you've got [Kemar] Roofe out, you've Hagi out and it's why I've a lot of sympathy for the manager. If all of these boys were fit and they were getting the same results, then there would be a completely different question getting asked."
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