Giovanni van Bronckhorst's Rangers player ultimatum, his two crucial days and Ross Wilson on transfers

The Dutchman will meet the players tomorrow after Sporting Director Ross Wilson confirmed his work permit was finalised this morning.

The former Light Blues midfielder looked confident, assured and excited at the challenge ahead.

Derek Clark assesses what was said in the Blue Room.

On taking the job

"I'm very proud.

"I had a beautiful time here as a player and I have enjoyed being back in Glasgow over the past few days.

"It was quite an easy decision to take this job.

"I was confident that I would take the job because it's a club I want to lead.

"I want to bring success to the club.

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"I have been working at Feyenoord, a club with a lot of pressure, so hopefully me and my staff can have the same type of success here that we had there."

You can’t help but be enthused by just how much van Bronckhorst is excited to be the 17th manager in Rangers' history.

He absolutely gets the club, its traditions and the demands expected. He was a winner as a player and you get a sense that mentality will go a long way in helping him succeed as a manager.

Casting aside his previous connection with the club and you can’t fail to be impressed by his managerial record at Feyenoord, which he mentions here. Delivering success at De Kuip is no mean feat considering the financial muscle of both Ajax and PSV and that experience can only help him with what he’s walking into.

Of course, proof will be in the pudding and he needs to hit the ground running but Rangers have appointed someone who appears hungry and determined to succeed, unlike his predecessor who appeared to have checked out mentally for some time.

On players buying into his methods

“I expect everyone is on board with me tomorrow.

“It’s my duty to prepare players for games. I prepare them in their attitude, their hunger and their whatever.

“For me, as a coach and player, the hunger has to come from within yourself. It starts with that.

“That would make it much easier for me as a coach, but being involved in top football all my life I know what needs to be done to be successful.

“So that message I got across as a coach when I started, and if a player thinks otherwise then they will have a tough manager in me.”

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This was an interesting and quite telling response. It was a question posed following the car crash of a showing in yesterday’s League Cup semi-final and the startling comments made by Connor Goldson afterwards.

Despite coming across as a likeable, well-mannered individual, you sense van Bronckhorst doesn’t suffer fools gladly and will have no qualms at ditching, so-called, big names for the sake of the team. He did so at Feyenoord with Dirk Kuyt during their title-winning campaign in 2016/17 and don’t be surprised if he were to do so at Ibrox.

As van Bronckhorst points out, he was done it all in the game, he’ll be able to identify who’s heart isn’t in it and they’ll be dealt with swiftly, you can’t count on that.

On preparing players for Sparta Prague

“We have to prepare the team for Thursday. Tuesday will be the first time we will meet - I have met some players, but not all.

“I will only have two days to prepare them as opposed to a couple of weeks which you usually get so it’s a little bit different but I’m sure we can help them in getting some information across.

“We want to get the best out of every player, not only Alfredo Morelos. We want to make sure everyone on the pitch is the best version of themselves.

“I’m going to see the players for the first time and my job is to make sure my whole staff is helping me to get them prepared.”

As much as the appointment of van Bronckhorst has been well received by most, he has very little time to impose himself and his beliefs on the current crop of players.

He’s only held a meeting with James Tavernier as of yet and, as he mentions, he’ll meet with the rest of the playing squad tomorrow. With a huge Europa League encounter just three days away it will be interesting to see if he can get a reaction out of a team who looked disinterested against Hibs yesterday.

Thursday is likely to come too soon to implement his ideas and turn around the current slump in form. If supporters can see potential shoots of recovery though then it’s a positive start.

It’s a new era at Rangers, but van Bronckhorst is about to learn very quickly who he can trust and whose Ibrox career is well and truly up.

Ross Wilson on future transfers

"There's no mandate to the manager that we have to sell players," said Wilson.

"We've been really, really clear as a club in our communication that we see player trading that has to be normal for this club - as it is for nearly every club in world football.

"We've not been strong in that in the past that is clear to say. But the investors have continued to back this club all the time.

"We've rejected, as everyone knows, some significant offers for some of our players in the last two windows and we will do so again unless they are the right offers for the right players at the right time."

This was a really interesting takeaway from the Rangers Sporting Director. The general consensus given Rangers recent financial accounts and the fact little money has been spent on a player in the previous two transfer windows that they are a club who need to sell before they can buy.

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Of course, the compensation received for the outgoing management team may be used to bring in additions in January.

That being said, Wilson admits they have struggled to move players on and, going forward, they must improve on this. It could be argued that the failure to sell players has led to the general malaise and apathy amongst several members of the playing squad.

You have to imagine bids will come in January, most likely for Nathan Patterson who was subject to those two failed offers from Everton in the summer. January is a long way away however with a tough round of fixtures on the horizon, it will be up to van Bronckhorst and his backroom team to make sure there are no bad eggs in the dressing room and everyone is singing from the same hymn sheet.