Simon Jordan has predicted that Rangers boss Gio van Bronckhorst does not have long left in his tenure at Ibrox - claiming fans "haven't really accepted" the appointment of their current boss.
Van Bronckhorst took the hot seat last November after Steven Gerrard jumped ship to join Aston Villa following his unbeaten season in the Scottish Premiership with the Gers. Despite failing to reclaim the title, a Scottish Cup win and a superb run to the Europa League final saw Rangers fans take kindly to their former midfielder, with more success expected after a summer of recruitment.
But an underwhelming transfer window - where Rangers spent just half of the fee that saw Calvin Bassey move to Ajax - saw discontent murmur through the stands in Govan. Since then, turgid performances in the top-flight and Premier Sports Cup have asked questions of the Dutchman - with Rangers' five losses from five in the Champions League putting him with his face to the fire as the exit door looms large.
And talkSPORT pundit Jordan has claimed that Rangers fans are looking for the earliest possible excuse to see Van Bronckhorst leave the club - citing that fans of the Light Blues 'have never really accepted' their current manager in the wake of Gerrard's departure.
“I’d like to have seen them be more competitive for third spot spot. Napoli smashed Liverpool, and Liverpool and Napoli are in a far different place to Rangers - but I felt they could have got closer to Ajax and pushed third spot, stayed in Europe and build from there," he told talkSPORT.
“The point is that with Rangers, I take no satisfaction out of forecasting the fact they may not get a point out of this group, but I think they will grab a point against Ajax who have nothing to play for apart from being safe.
“They’re playing at a level that is beyond them. It’s a combination of three things - the group itself is beyond them, the players are not good enough and the manager isn’t good enough either. I look at this and think that he hasn’t really been accepted by Rangers fans, I think they want to give him the benefit of the doubt as Steven Gerrard left them in the lurch a little bit.
“He set a bar of winning the league, they didn’t follow that up, they got to a European final they gave him the benefit of the doubt on that, and the moment things go wrong for him it feels like the underlying narrative is that ‘we’re not having him’.
“The moment it goes a little bit wonky on the tracks, it feels like he is going to be on his way again. I don’t think he’ll be at Rangers for much longer, unless they pick up dramatically in the league. Last week they nicked a result against Livingston, I was listening to the exasperation of Kris Boyd about how Rangers weren’t doing what they could be doing. These are the games that will unwind you, not the results against Liverpool. I’d be surprised, if there’s not a massive change in their league form and they get results against Celtic, if he’s still in situ when the year turns over."
