Is he the next Mikel Arteta? Or is he really just Pedro Caixinha with a Dutch accent?
Steven Pressley freely admits to not knowing the answers. But the former Rangers and Celtic defender is absolutely certain that the men in charge a Ibrox should be asking themselves those very questions now that Giovanni van Bronckhorst has entered a full blown managerial crisis. Pressley’s thought process is clear: If they believe in him then they should have the courage of their convictions and ignore the clamour for his head. If, however, they suspect relations between the head coach and his players have broken down beyond all repair, then it’s time they find themselves a new one.
“Just look at Arteta," Pressley said on Monday as a deafening silence descended over his old club in the wake of Sunday’s horror show of a defeat in Perth. Pressley, now head of development at Premier League new boys Brentford, continued: “I was in at Arsenal around this time last year for a fringe first team game against theirs. At that time he was getting it absolutely in the neck. The fans wanted him out.
“But when I went there I spoke to one of the top men behind the scenes. He said to me, ‘Forget all the noise. We really trust this guy. He just needs to get the right players in and we need to be patient with him and give him support,’. And look what’s happened!
“Now, I’m not saying that’s the case with Gio. I’m not in the inner sanctum so I don’t know enough about it.
“But that’s what the board need to decide. Is he the man? Are we going to show the courage that Arsenal showed? Or is he not?
“Effectively, is he the next Arteta or the next Caixinha? I’m in no position to answer that. Only the people in charge of Rangers can make that call.”
Pressley, of course, speaks from the position of being a victim to various knee jerk reactions in the boardroom, through his own winding career path from Falkirk to Fleetwood and Coventry to Carlise. His inclination is to cut any other manager some slack when it is most required.
He went on: “I heard a great quote from Jurgen Klopp the other day and it is so true, ‘Managers can’t be only there when the sun is shining,’.
“In the last 12 months Gio has taken Rangers to a European cup final and, up until three or four weeks ago, he was seen as doing a really good job in there. The true sign of a great manager is those who can navigate their way through a difficult period like this.
“Yes, it’s normal for supporters to shout for the manager’s head. But that shouldn’t dictate to the decision makers inside the club. If the chairman and Ross Wilson all still believe that Gio can navigate his way out then they must back him because getting through times like this is what being a real football manager is all about.”
It’s also what being a real chairman or director of football is about. Pressley continues: “Exactly! If these guys believe he’s the right man they also have to show their grit and courage. That’s a great point.
“Often the easy thing is for the manager to be sacrificed as some kind of trade off. And this is where the differences lie between great clubs and poor clubs.”
And yet Pressley is realistic enough to accept that sometimes it simply can’t be fixed any other way. That, he believes, also comes down to the state of the current relationship between the manager and his players. Just a few weeks after he admitted they lacked the quality to compete in the Champions League.
Those remarks now look like a haunting throwback to Neil Lennon’s disembowelment of Celtic’s dressing room back at the start of the end of the club’s ill fated 10 in a row season. Pressley said: “A lot of it will be decided by his players and how they feel about him at present. Do they still believe in him? Do they believe in his message?
“If the powers that be believe that to be the case and they believe he’s the right guy, then 100 per cent they should let him navigate his way out of this. But if that’s not the feeling then sometimes a decision has to be made.
“Only the people inside the club will know which one it is. The difficulty when you’re a manager is battling against the perception of what you say when what you are trying to do is bring a bit of reality to the situation.
“What Gio said about not having the quality to compete in the Champions League was the reality. Rangers can’t spend the money that the likes of Liverpool, Napoli and Ajax can. The difficulty for Gio is saying it in public without almost undermining his own players and making them feel inferior.
“It’s a really difficult position to manage. But I would also say, the consistency of a manager’s behaviour allows him to deal with situations in certain ways.
“Take Mourinho for example. He likes to put pressure on his players and he likes to challenge them publicly. But that’s consistent with his behaviour. It’s seen as normal. The issue that some managers have is when they say something that isn’t matching with their normal behaviour.
“Because when that happens - unless you get an instant upturn in results - people will use it against you. It’s all dictated by results. Gio could have said the same thing, Rangers win the next six games and everyone is saying, ‘That was clever management, outstanding!
“It was the same thing for Neil at Celtic. If you get results then it’s because you have stimulated a reaction from his players. The group needed to be prodded out of their comfort zone. The reality is if the results don’t follow then it is perceived by external forces as having had an adverse effect.”
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