(Football news) Reigning Scottish Premiership champions Rangers are close to agreeing a deal for Giovanni van Bronckhorst as the new manager after Steven Gerrard departed from the club for Aston Villa. The former Rangers full-back is set to return to the Ibrox after being pictured in London on Saturday where talks were held with the board.
As things stand the likes of David McCallum, Brian Gilmour, Jermain Defoe and Colin Stewart are running the day-to-day proceedings at the club and are expected to be in charge in Sunday’s League Cup match against Hibernian FC. Both the supporters and the board would be hoping for a seamless transition as Rangers are currently at the top of the table after 13, four points ahead of rivals Celtic and are expected to face some tough fixtures against Sparta Prague in the Europa League as well as trips to Livingstone and Hibernian.
The 46 year old former Dutch international played for the Rangers from 1998 to 2001, winning five trophies which include two league titles and has also played for the likes of Arsenal and F.C Barcelona before ending his career at Feyenoord where he joined Ronald Koeman’s coaching set-up until taking over permanently in 2015. Van Bronckhorst won the KNVB Cup in his first season in charge before winning Feyenoord’s first Eredivisie title in 18 years in his second season. He has also managed the Chinese Super League side Guangzhou City but failed to win any silverware as the club finished 11th.
With Champions League qualification all but assured, the Rangers hierarchy and fans would hope that having spent five years with the City group, studying Pep Guardiola’s methods will translate into meaningful results and silverware as the Scottish club looks to maintain and improve on their dominance both domestically and in the Champions League.
