'I never expected this' - Michael Mols speaks on Giovanni van Bronckhorst as Rangers manager

When Michael Mols looked around him at his team-mates in the Rangers dressing room around two decades ago, the last man he expected to one day take charge of the Ibrox club was Giovanni van Bronckhorst.

Michael Mols was back at Ibrox last Saturday to play for a Rangers Legends side in the club's 150th anniversary match. (Photo by Rob Casey / SNS Group)

“No, no, no – I didn’t expect him to become a manager because he hardly said anything in the dressing room,” says Mols.

“He wouldn’t give ideas and say ‘right boys, we need to do this’. He was more relaxed and quiet. He would just do his thing and do his best for the team.

“That is the way he played – now he is a manager and there are points where you need to show it or tell how to do it. I never expected him to do this but hopefully it works out for him.”

Michael Mols scores the winning goal for Rangers in their 3-2 victory over Celtic at Ibrox in a league game in December 2002. (Photo by Alan Harvey/SNS Group).

Never in his four months in the job has it needed to work out more for van Bronckhorst than it does this Sunday when Rangers face Premiership leaders Celtic at Ibrox in the most significant match of the title race so far.

His Dutch compatriot Mols, who still avidly follows the fortunes of his old club, feels van Bronckhorst has to make amends for last month’s 3-0 defeat at Celtic Park which handed the initiative to their Old Firm rivals.

“It was a difficult night for them but also for me,” says Mols. “I watched the game but I could only watch halfway and then I stopped and turned off the TV. It was hard to watch. Hopefully they are going to change it and this time they have a chance.

“Gio will have analysed the game and seen what went wrong and what went OK and he needs to work it out. That is what every manager does and I think he will do that too.

“Am I impressed by how he has done so far? Well, they were six points in front of Celtic and it changes now and they are three points behind. That is football. For him, it was difficult because he came in halfway through the season and he wanted to do his own thing. That needs time too.

“He is more relaxed and that can be good for the team. I don’t know how he is in the dressing room, I don’t know his style. You need to have a nice contact with the players. You can sometimes shout or sometimes be relaxed. You need to feel that.

“If you are at Rangers and you win next week, the week after you need to win too. It is always about winning here. It means a lot, of course, Sunday’s game. It means a lot for the club, for the supporters, for everybody. He knows himself, having played here, how much it means.

“It could be make or break in the title race. But you know how it goes in football, it is only the end of the season when everything is done that you know if you have done the right job or not.

“It could be if you win against Celtic, then you are more positive and you go to the end of the season. If you lose it, then the mentality is different.”

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