Rangers have sacked Giovanni van Bronckhorst – little more than a year after the Dutchman took charge.
Van Bronckhorst looked set to continue after the Ibrox board failed to act in the immediate aftermath of the 1-1 draw against St Mirren in the final fixture before the domestic break. However, the club have ended van Bronckhorst's time at the helm and are on the hunt for their 18th permanent manager.
Pressure had been building on the former Feyenoord boss, who enjoyed a successful playing spell at Rangers under Dick Advocaat, due to the worst ever Champions League group stage record in history and Celtic building up a nine-point lead at the Premiership summit. He did take Rangers to the Europa League final last season which helped make up for the fact he squandered the lead handed to him by Steven Gerrard when he took over, reports The Daily Record.
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But this season has been a struggle domestically and despite banking the club millions by leading Rangers back into the Champions League group stage for the first time in 12 years, the fairytale return to Europe's elite quickly turned into a nightmare with Liverpool, Napoli and Ajax running riot in Group A, leaving Rangers without a point in the group.
But, in truth, there were serious reservations over van Bronckhorst's ability to take on Ange Postecoglou's Celtic before the results went south. Punters did not believe in his brand of football. The pastings in Europe cracked Ibrox confidence and the jeers have been growing louder in recent weeks - even in times of victory such as the the insipid 1-0 Premier Sports Cup Win over Dundee hinted this story would not have a happy ending. And the inability to secure wins over St Johnstone and St Mirren in consecutive weekends left the Dutchman in an untenable position.
Rangers have time to mull over a potential successor with domestic football in cold storage as the first ever winter World Cup takes centre stage. But Ibrox decision makers will be acutely aware they must get it right to have any chance of forcing Celtic into a title battle when the season resumes on December 15.
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