Gio van Bronckhorst and the Rangers derby template from Ajax hammering as he refused to buckle under Feyenoord pressure

Giovanni van Bronckhorst probably won’t be in much of a mood to celebrate his birthday as the Rangers boss turns 47 ahead of Sunday’s visit of Hearts.

The Dutchman has found himself under scrutiny for the first time since his seamless start in the Ibrox dug-out.

Seven points dropped from a possible 12 since the winter break have turned up the heat with the midweek thrashing by Celtic at Parkhead bringing things to a head.

And the champions now face the prospect of being four points behind by the time they kick off against the Jambos with the Hoops in action at Motherwell earlier.

But Van Bronckhorst is no stranger to managerial pressure after a sticky start in his maiden season as a boss at Feyenoord.

However, he defied his doubters and eventually led the club he served as a player to their first Eredivisie title in almost two decades.

Mikos Gouka is a Rotterdam-based journalist who has covered Feyenoord for 20 years and he took time out to give Record Sport an insight into the Rangers gaffer’s time at De Kuip.

And speaking on this week’s edition of the Record Rangers podcast, he told how Van Bronckhorst refused to panic or change his approach and his single-minded attitude brought him success.

However, he didn’t ram that success down the throats of his critics with Gouka admitting his Mr Nice Guy tag remained.

Van Bronckhorst has been calm in the face of some early heat with questions being asked after the derby mauling which has seen them drop seven points in three games since the winter break.

And that, according to Gouka, is how he will remain and won’t ever become a tea cup-throwing style manager.

Here, we pick out some of the key points from the podcast which you can listen to in full by clicking here.

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