Rangers don’t need to sign good players this summer, they need to give the type of players to Philippe Clement who suit his style of play and philosophy.
It seems obvious to provide a manager with what he needs to implement his game plan, however, it’s not always a principle that is followed.
Speaking to The Rangers Review, former assistant manager Dave Vos has fired shots at the board and Ross Wilson who failed to give Giovanni van Bronckhorst the squad he needed for an assault on the Champions League.
Rangers recruitment frustration revealed by Dave Vos
Despite selling Calvin Bassey and Joe Aribo, Van Bronckhorst wasn’t backed to the extent that many expected.
Big fees were paid for Ben Davies and Ridvan Yilmaz, but they didn’t seem like the type of players that would take Rangers to the next level.
Speaking after beating PSV Eindhoven to qualify for the Champions League, it seemed like more additions were going to be made when asked if the guaranteed cash bonus would have an affect on his transfer business:
“Well of course it will impact us.
“As a player, as a coach, you’re only thinking about competing with the best teams in Europe and we have the opportunity to do so. Of course, there are many positives we take from this game.
“I think the club and the board and the club will also be happy that we get more financial opportunities. We always have good conversations and communication on how to spend the money.”
When asked if he expected new players before the window shut, he said: “I don’t know. I said before there’s seven days left so anything can happen. We have to be prepared.”
Incredibly, nobody else arrived to be presented at Ibrox with Van Bronckhorst’s number two, Dave Vos, explaining what went wrong:
“We wanted Ian Maatsen really badly who is now in the Champions League Final with Dortmund. We wanted a couple of those players who you know can fit into the style of football you want to play.
“Overall our squad lacked depth and struggled with injuries. I think Leon King was a great talent with real potential. But in a season of 60 games, at his age, you’d expect Leon to maybe play 20 games alongside somebody with experience to develop him. We were relying too heavily on Leon and that was unfair on him.”
Board have to learn lessons from Gio’s time in charge
It wasn’t just one thing that cost Giovanni van Bronckhorst his job.
The Dutchman could go from being a tactical genius in mid-week to struggling to break down teams at the bottom of the Scottish Premiership.
Then, there was the injury crisis caused by a change in training intensity which wasn’t helped by having too many injury prone players in the squad already.
Having to play against some of the best forwards in Europe with Leon King and James Sands as a centre-half pairing and with an ageing pairing of Steven Davis and Scott Arfield highlights exactly the size of the challenge that Van Bronckhorst faced.
To compound matters, as Vos explained, big players were sold and not replaced.
Ridvan and Tom Lawrence were not direct replacements for Bassey and Aribo in any size shape or form.
The style of football might not have been great domestically, but with a better quality of player at his disposal he probably wins the league the season before and doesn’t chalk up the worst Champions League season.
Hopefully, the board have learned their lesson.
