With the Giovanni van Bronckhorst era over at Rangers, his tenure ended in a similar fashion to what unfolded at his former club Feyenoord.

Prior to the Dutchman’s appointment last year, we sought opinion from a supporter of the Rotterdam club to get a clearer picture as to what we could expect from van Bronckhorst - the coach.

It was when the now infamous ‘horseshoe’ term was first mentioned as Johan Brinkel from the popular Feyenoord fan’s podcast Kein Geloel gave us an in-depth insight into van Bronckhorst’s four-year spell in charge of the De Kuip outfit.

Now, following his dismissal on Monday morning, we were keen to discover how the parting of ways has been viewed in his native Holland as we caught up with Johan once more.

Surprised by his sacking?

I was a little. Of course, Scottish football is not that popular in Holland so we only get the highlights when the Old Firm are playing so we saw the results. We still think about last season when he took over as manager of Rangers and we saw him advance to the final of the Europa League and win the Scottish Cup so we thought we was doing quite well. But, of course, we didn’t see the results in the league which were not that good. I was quite surprised to see he was sacked sooner than I expected. Managers always get hired and fired but for him to be there only a year as a coach of Rangers is quite short.

How impressive was Rangers’ Europa League run last season?

Very impressed. The Europa League is a big stage. Giovanni van Bronckhorst took over around November/December so in some areas, he did quite well. If I look at the Rangers team, it’s an okay team but it’s not one of the best in Europe so, for him, advancing to the final was great. Here in Holland, we all hoped that he would win it. Unfortunately, he did not so I think for the results, winning the Scottish Cup and advancing to the Europa League final is a huge accomplishment for a coach like van Bronckhorst but unfortunately, it’s not enough to add up to be a long-term coach for Rangers.

Is he more suited to cup football?

I’ve never looked at it that way but I think that’s maybe the correct call. Here in Holland, he won the league after 17 years which was a huge accomplishment for Feyenoord but in his tenure as a coach he also won two national cups. In Europe, he didn’t do that well for Feyenoord so his Europa League run last year was good for him as a coach and winning the Scottish Cup is also good for his resume. Maybe that’s a correct conclusion that he’s a good coach for winning cups but maybe not so good for games every week in the league.

His team were playing poor football at Rangers at the end of his time, is this similar to how it ended at Feyenoord?

I think so. The one season, the 2016-17 campaign was a great one. We had a great season and we became champions, after that the following season he won the cup but the year after, his final year as a coach, everyone was fed up with his play. Even though he has huge respect, I think he’s a great manager. He came through the youth ranks at Feyenoord, he’s one of our own as we say, we really love him. We hoped he would do very well at Rangers and maybe end up at a bigger club afterwards as he did as a player when he went from Feyenoord to Rangers and then to Arsenal and Barcelona. Everybody here in Holland expects him to end up as coach of the national team at some point and maybe that suits him better. Working with big characters and going to European Championships and World Cups which are knockout tournaments. Even though he has nice tactics and a nice style of play, it’s not exciting to watch his games as a coach. In one season it was kind of exciting because we had the players as well but after that when a couple of players left the style of play was not that exciting. The coach we have now, for example, everybody says the football that we play now is way better than it was when Gio was a coach here.

Would people in the Netherlands welcome van Bronckhorst as the national team boss?

Definitely. He’s got such a good presentation. He’s such a nice coach and always well-mannered. He never says stupid stuff. Sometimes it’s a bit boring when he’s being interviewed, he never says anything exciting but, as a national coach, he’s well respected by all the players, even the players that are in the national team right now. Of course, Ronald Koeman is taking over from Louis van Gaal after the World Cup but Koeman will step down at some point and I think Giovanni van Bronckhorst is one of the front-runners to take over. At Feyenoord he did well then he went to China and didn’t do that well, now at Rangers he got sacked after a year so I don’t know what the next step will be. Maybe he could look to the Europa League campaign and say, ‘Hey, I took my team to the final,’ so maybe there will be some teams interested. I still think he’s a nice man. Maybe if he has assistants next to him that are more tactical and more into developing nice football, that would be good for him because I don’t think the assistants he has right now are the best assistants for him to get to a better football level. I’m very curious to see what his next step is going to be.

Rangers Review: (Image: NQ)

Did he miss Jean-Paul van Gaskel by his side?

I don’t know. It would be nice for him if he gets an assistant coach next to him that has different opinions about football. Roy Makaay and also van Gaskel have been working with van Bronckhorst for ages. Dave Vos from Ajax was an interesting appointment because I had never heard of him. I thought he would be an interesting coach to have next to him but that didn’t work out well which is unfortunate.

Peter Bosz has been suggested as a possible replacement, would he be a good fit for Rangers?

He’s also a former Feyenoord player so we know him quite well. The thing about Peter Bosz is his style of football is exciting. He likes to play attacking football and press the opponent. One time, when he was the coach for Heracles, a small team in Holland, he played at De Kuip against Feyenoord. I think we took the lead within 10 minutes and then he started replacing a couple of guys and ended up playing two defenders which was suicide because we won 5-0 in the end. But that’s basically how Peter Bosz is. He likes to attack and just wants to play attractive football but he’s not that highly regarded here in Holland because he never wins any prizes. Sometimes it’s like he’s been blindfolded and he doesn’t look at the result. Football is not just about playing attractive football, it’s also about winning and that cost him a job at Ajax, Dortmund and Lyon. If I can recommend a coach, I wouldn’t recommend Peter Bosz. The football is nice but you won’t win anything.

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