Unimpressed Charlie Nicholas has told Gio van Bronckhorst his Rangers financial excuses don't add up.
The Dutchman claimed the Europa League finalists need "hundreds of millions" of to compete with Champions League rivals Liverpool, Napoli and Ajax. But the former Celtic striker reckons that doesn't add up, and his pointed to the raft of talent which left the Dutch champions before they trounced Rangers 4-0.
Nicholas remains a backer of Van Bronckhorst and believes the criticism of the 47-year-old, on the whole, has been overblown after the sorry results against rivals Celtic and the capitulation against Ajax. But he insists things must improve ahead of the visit of Napoli on Wednesday night. Speaking in his Express column, he said: "Rangers have been getting a kicking over their heavy defeats to Celtic and Ajax - but they are not suddenly a bad team and some of the stick being aimed at Gio van Bronckhorst is way over the top.
"However, I wasn't buying the manager's excuses about it being too much to ask Rangers to compete with the Champions League elite because of money. He was going on about a gap of "hundreds of millions" but that's not accurate. Ajax may have spent £100million but they brought in about £200m in player sales so Gio's argument is out the window.
"Next up in Group A is Napoli at Ibrox tomorrow night and Van Bronckhorst has to be clever - and he has shown that quality before in Europe. He needs to play this one as if it's an away tie and he needs big performances. Ryan Kent hasn't been bringing enough - certainly nothing like what he did last season in the Europa League - and Malik Tillman, while bright in some of the early games, hasn't turned up for the last two.
"I've watched Napoli a couple of times in Serie A this season and while they have some impressive players, there are areas where you can get at them. If Rangers play a bit deeper, protect and grow into the game I can see them getting something from it. So they might tweak their formation to a back three - or even back five at times. The postponement of the Aberdeen game was a blessing forVan Bronckhorst because, apart from it being a tricky fixture, it allowed him to completely focus and get ready for Napoli."
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