Rangers relieved manager Giovanni van Bronckhorst of his role as manager on Monday. The Scottish club sits in second in the Scottish Premiership, and failed to make it out of the group in the UEFA Champions League.

While those measurements would not be terrible for most Scottish clubs, it is heavily against Rangers’ ambitions for this season. While the club is firmly in control of second place with a eight-point cushion over Aberdeen, it remains nine points adrift of league-leaders Celtic.

Also, that crash out of the Champions League is one of, if not, the worst performances in the competition’s history. In six games, Rangers did not pick up a point. In fact, the Ibrox team only scored twice. On the way, opponents scored 22 goals, second-worst to only Viktoria Plzen. At the other end, Rangers only scored twice.

Giovanni van Bronckhorst took over at Rangers just over a year ago, on Nov. 18, 2021. In his abbreviated first season at Ibrox, van Bronckhorst led the side to a second-place finish, just six points behind Old Firm rivals Celtic. However, perhaps more impressively, Rangers reached the Europa League Final, losing to Eintracht Frankfurt on penalties. On the way to that spot, Rangers defeated Borussia Dortmund, RB Leipzig and more.

Additionally, Rangers won the 2022 Scottish Cup over Hearts. The club defeated Celtic in the semifinal to get to that spot.

Giovanni van Bronckhorst out at Rangers

During his long career as a player, van Bronckhorst spent three seasons at Rangers. In that time, he scored 22 goals across all competitions, including in Europe. However, he also featured heavily for Arsenal, Barcelona and Feyenoord, where he started and finished his career.

Van Bronckhorst has managerial experience at Feyenoord and in China. However, his lone season at Rangers is certainly his most fruitful.

Douglas Park, chairman of Rangers, said recent results are not up to the standard of Rangers, particularly those set by van Bronckhorst in cup competitions last season.

“Unfortunately, recent results have not met neither our nor Gio’s expectations, and we have taken this difficult decision today,” Park wrote in a statement from the club. “Everyone at Rangers wishes Gio every success in the future.”

Rangers is now in the search for a new manager, set to takeover once the club season returns after the World Cup.

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