GIOVANNI van Bronckhorst was a victim of his own success at Rangers, that's according to reports in the Netherlands.

The Dutchman was today sacked as Rangers boss with results deemed unacceptable by the Ibrox board.

It comes during the World Cup break with Rangers nine points adrift of Celtic and after a dire Champions League group stage campaign.

However, reports from the Netherlands have suggested Van Bronckhorst struggled after the club "refused to invest" after record sales.

Calvin Bassey, Nathan Patterson and Joe Aribo all left Ibrox for significant fees during Van Bronckhorst's tenure - and journalist Marcel van der Kraan reckons the failure to reinvest the funds led to Van Bronckhorst's sacking.

Writing in De Telegraaf, Van der Kraan commented: "Van Bronckhorst has become a victim of his own success.

"He achieved successes very quickly, which resulted in millions of sales, but the club refused to invest heavily again with the income.

"And that was precisely what was needed in a season in which the Champions League was scheduled with a killer schedule.

"Between January and August, Rangers sold 40 million euros worth of players, of which only a small part was spent on strengthening the squad."

Announcing Van Bronckhorst's departure, a Rangers statement read: "Rangers Football Club confirms today it has parted company with manager Giovanni van Bronckhorst.

"The board would like to put on record sincere thanks to Gio for all his efforts since his appointment as manager.

"Arriving at the club just over a year ago, Gio led the club to a fifth European final and won the Scottish Cup last May. He also led the team to the club’s first Champions League qualification in 12 years.

"Unfortunately, results and performances over recent months haven’t met expectations and the decision was made today by the board to terminate the contract of the manager.

"The search for the new manager is now underway."

Chairman Douglas Park added: “I want to thank Gio for the hard work he has put in over the last 12 months and, especially, the achievements of taking the club to the Europa League final and winning the Scottish Cup last season.

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

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