Ex-Rangers star highlights Giovanni van Bronckhorst’s red flag on display before Ibrox reign started

Former Rangers midfielder Kevin Thomson believes there were warning signs on display even before Giovanni van Bronckhorst’s tenure as Ibrox boss had officially begun as he drew comparisons to Walter Smith.

The Dutchman lasted just 368 days in his role as Light Blues manager after he was dismissed on Monday morning by club officials following a poor run of results which saw the Gers drop seven points out of a possible 15 prior to the World Cup break.

Ex-Scotland international Thomson reflected on Van Bronckhorst’s arrival in Glasgow last November when he opted to sit in the stands at Hampden Park to watch his new team lose comprehensively 3-1 to Hibernian in the Premier Sports Cup semi-final.

While acknowledging the success Van Bronckhorst had as a player at Ibrox, Thomson feels the 47-year-old evidently lacked passion and fight to suggest he was the right man to lead the club.

Speaking on BBC Sportsound, he said: “All the fans will remember his great playing days but when you get the opportunity to manage a great club, unfortunately, they need to carry the can when things don’t go right. I don’t know if plaudits is the right thing to say, but speaking at the Premier Sports Cup semi-final last year I had a lot of people agreeing with me when I thought he should’ve taken the team that day.

“I also said, and I know that there was legalities, but I was just offering my opinion with raw emotion on how the game changed. I remember when Walter Smith used to let Ally McCoist take the team and we were down to nine men against St Mirren. Coisty used to always run the team. I know it was different and I know he was allowed to do it and I don’t want to put Gio on the spot that he should’ve went into the dressing room at half-time.

“Nobody envisioned, not even Jack Ross did, how Hibs were going to play in that first half against Rangers. Looking back, it felt like the manager, the leader had to make a stamp and he had to show that he had the personality there and that he was ready to go forward. I felt like that was a little bit of a red flag for me, personally.

“I have to say, I don’t know him personally, and I’m a big voucher for people doing well. I know a lot of the boys, the younger players and even the likes of Greegsy (Allan McGregor) and Steven (Davis). I do have a small opinion that there’s a small ingredient that you need to succeed at Rangers and when I used to watch him do interviews, I watched him and studied him in what he said and his body language on the touchline.

“I just feel like he needed that little bit of grit between his teeth, that sturdy bit at the back of your throat that Walter had. Certain people are made for a club like Rangers and Gio as a player, that was unquestionable but I felt the team needed that spark and that passion. It looked like to me for the last few months that that had been lacking.”