WITH Giovanni van Bronckhorst confirmed as the new Rangers manager, excitement is through the roof amongst the Ibrox faithful following the return of their idol.

The Dutchman enjoyed success as a manager at Feyenoord where he won the Eredivisie in 2017, the first time the title returned to Rotterdam in 18 years.

He also claimed two Dutch Cups and two Dutch Super Cups during his four-year stint at De Kuip before an unsuccessful Covid-interrupted spell in China.

We talked to Johan Brinkel from the popular Feyenoord supporters podcast Kein Geloel for an in-depth insight into what a Giovanni van Bronckhorst Rangers team may look like and what he will bring to Ibrox.

His Feyenoord legacy

“He’s regarded as a well-mannered and a good coach, we really like him. He’s such a nice guy and we’re hoping he’ll do well at Ibrox.

“The results were very good at Feyenoord, we won the league for the first time in 18 years in 2017, he’s won the KNVB Cup twice, won the Super Cup twice so looking at just trophy-wise he was our most successful coach ever.

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“If you look at the football, that’s the big negative side. It was very predictable, not always as fun as we’d hoped.

“He’s quite conservative as a coach but I think he’s good at managing guys, he doesn’t mind benching a big star if it’s necessary for the team.”

Taking over and seeking help from a former Rangers boss

“It’s quite funny because the year before he was appointed to be the head coach, he was assistant for two years before that under Ronald Koeman. We all thought the other assistant was going to be the head coach but Feyenoord decided van Bronckhorst was going to be the man so it was a big surprise when he was appointed.

“When he took over, in the first part of the season he did really well. I think we were top of the league and we were thinking we could go for the title but after the winter break we collapsed so badly.

“We lost seven times in a row which was a record for Feyenoord, we never did that before.

“Dick Advocaat was called in to help Giovanni because our board thought that maybe van Bronckhorst was inexperienced and that he needs some help from a seasoned coach who knows how to do it when you lose so many games.

“I think that helped him as at the end of the season in 2016 he won most of the matches and basically he went from that moment forward.

“We got a new striker, Nicolai Jorgensen from Denmark, we got a new goalie because our first choice goalie was injured and basically everything clicked.

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“I still don’t think we had the best team in Holland that season but of all the players we had, around 14/15 players who all played, they outperformed on their regular skill.

“Guys that were decent became excellent so we had an excellent season in which from the first day till the last day, we were top of the table and of course Gio is part of that.”

Style of play

“He was our coach for four years, in those four years I only remember that he played a different system once.

“That was in the Champions League when we were facing Manchester City that he decided to play five defenders instead of four but it didn’t help because we lost 4-0.

“I don’t recall any other games that he was playing a different system. He really likes to play a 4-3-3.

“When we talk about van Bronckhorst we always say ‘The Horseshoe’ because what he always did, that irritated fans so badly, was the left-back played it to the centre back, the centre back played it to the other centre back and the centre back played it to the right back and then the other way around so it was quite predictable.

“Teams figured out if you basically stopped our midfielders from being part of the game, Feyenoord doesn’t know what to do. Even though we had better teams from 2017 onwards, we didn’t become champions anymore, we didn’t play a role in the championship whatsoever. We won the cup in 2018 but the best season was the 2016-17 season when we became champions.

“We sold a couple of guys and the guys we got in weren’t that good so the money we spent was not well spent. They basically stopped developing and got worse so he never replicated that fantastic magic season in 2017.”

On leaving Feyenoord

“I think most of the fans were quite happy when he left.

“Four years in football is a long time so we do like the fact that he wasn’t fired, he left through the front door.

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“Everybody said, ‘Ok, we respect you, so let’s finish this together’, even though, especially in his last season the football was terrible and the performances weren’t good.

“Looking back, maybe it was better when we decided after three years it was time to move on but it was a mutual decision. Eventually, van Bronckhorst decided not to renew his contract even though I’m not sure Feyenoord were going to offer him a new contract.

“It was a good moment to leave the club and because of that he’s still regarded as one of our favourite coaches of all time.”

Could he do better than Steven Gerrard?

“I read an article here in Holland which said the Rangers fans are really enthusiastic and are expecting more than they expected from Steven Gerrard.

“I’m not sure if that’s realistic. I think Gerrard is a good coach. I think van Bronckhorst has the same style, he’s a big personality, he knows how to handle the guys who play football these days with all the attitude that goes with it.

“I think it’s a good fit, also because he was a player over there and did very well before he moved onto Arsenal so we’re hoping he’ll do well but I’m not sure it’s realistic to expect him to do even better than Gerrard.

“If he does the same I think the Rangers fans should be very happy with that.”

Possible assistants

“When he moved to China after Feyenoord he took along Jean-Paul van Gastel. He stayed there even though van Bronckhorst decided to leave after a year.

“I’m not sure if he’ll want to stay there but they have a really good connection - they really like each other.

“Maybe he’ll also look at Roy Makaay, the former Bayern Munich striker, he is one of van Bronckhorst’s best friends who also was an assistant coach at Feyenoord.

“I’m pretty sure Jan Wouters is going to join van Bronckhorst because he’s not doing anything at the moment.”