It was a match made in heaven when Giovanni van Bronckhorst returned to Rangers a little over a year ago. Having won a treble and a double during his playing days, the Dutchman had the support of the fans and almost everyone around him as he confidently arrived at Ibrox.

Very early on I had doubts as the football didn’t match the apparent philosophy we were supposed to be seeing. A six-point lead quickly evaporated and within a month of the January restart Rangers would be playing a catch-up game they would never complete.

The Europa League provided an outlet and van Bronckhorst went within an inch of Rangers immortality. That Europa run had everything. The huge victories, the Ibrox comebacks and ultimately some of the best moments I have had following the club. Then the Scottish Cup run saw the manager lead his side to an Old Firm comeback win on the way to returning the trophy back to the Ibrox trophy cabinet.

Recruitment was heavily criticised but van Bronckhorst stuck by his squad saying he was happy with where we were. The highs of Champions League qualification meant that in August things were looking pretty spectacular for the manager. A decent domestic start set him up for Celtic and a crack at Europe’s top table.

Then it all went sadly wrong and very quickly.

An abject hammering at Parkhead which was a carbon copy of everything we had already seen just months before rang alarm bells amongst the support. Days later a similar thrashing in Amsterdam had most complaining loudly.

The Champions League performance was almost as abject as anything we had seen with no passion from a squad that looked like it believed it didn’t belong on that platform. Then Liverpool took seven at Ibrox and most began to criticise even louder.

Most will know that after this game I somewhat infamously called for his removal both on the live daily update and on this platform. My exact quote was, 'get rid of him now before he does even more damage.' This was controversial because at just two points behind domestically everything was still there for van Bronckhorst.

Sadly the injuries got worse and Connor Goldson was the key moment when things became almost unrecoverable. Rangers had lost their leader and defensive rock. Before long it was to lead van Bronckhorst to his fate.

The Champions League challenge would fade away to an embarrassing whimper with the worst record ever in the tournament, quickly followed by just two points in nine taken against Livingston, St Johnstone and St Mirren. The nature of those performances were dismal on the eye and clear to many that this squad had simply given up as they have done so many times before.

A nine-point gap in the league took us into the World Cup break before the button was pressed. It was a decision that had to be made.

Rangers Review: (Image: NQ)

I take no pleasure in this, in fact, I’m actually really gutted we are here. All I want is a winning Rangers team and given the fact van Bronckhorst is an incredibly nice guy, I always felt bad for being so brutally honest about his performance.

He was always dignified and I asked him some pretty intense questions which he never dodged. Ultimately it just didn’t work out for him and his philosophy simply never worked. He became haunted by the infamous ‘horseshoe’ nickname used by Feyenoord supporters and he failed to inspire the fans. Once they were gone there was no way back.

He carries the can, just as I predicted he would and it’s almost unfair. He has been let down by a squad which needs to be ripped up and some massively difficult decisions made with it. A squad who look like they think nothing of downing tools and watching others sink around them. It needs heart, desire and it needs determination - something I fear it simply doesn’t have at the moment.

Gio's also been let down by poor recruitment from the sporting director. Ross Wilson, yes here I go again, has wasted so much revenue in failed recruitment and has helped oversee a squad which is badly in need of significant reconstruction. Contractually, the squad is a mess and there's a spiralling wage bill to boot. He also sanctioned a near four-year contract to van Bronckhorst and his coaching staff.

So removing Giovanni van Bronckhorst is entirely the correct move but others have once again gotten away lightly without the examination their role deserves.

An inch from immortality to this present day. Van Bronckhorst will be the first to take responsibility and he should, he played his part but he’ll do it with the class he showed every way throughout his tenure and as someone who has heavily criticised him, I thank and respect him for that.

Perhaps the squad and executives at the club need to consider if they really have helped him as much as they could or is Gio simply a useful lightning rod for other failings. If they consider it all to be on the manager then history has already shown us that this will only stop the rot slightly before the cycle resumes.

I called for widespread change at the football club and that point remains today, what we do next is absolutely critical but many in this squad should not survive whatever era dawns on us next. As for the sporting director that oversaw this whole mess, he certainly should be concerned about his position.

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