Gio van Bronckhorst slams Rangers visit by Michael Beale and hits out at Ibrox board for lack of support

Gio van Bronckhorst hit out at Michael Beale for his Rangers appearance as he battled to stay in a job - as the Dutchman also claimed he didn’t get the backing in his second season that his performance deserved.

Beale made the trip to Ibrox to take in a game against Aberdeen at a time when Van Bronckhorst was under pressure with the Londoner also visiting a popular Rangers fans’ pub in the vicinity of the stadium. Beale was tipped at the time as a potential successor to Van Bronckhorst and later replaced him in the Ibrox hot-seat.

And, in an interview with FourFourTwo, Van Bronckhorst said of Beale’s trip north of the border while he was QPR boss: "I don't think you should really do that as a fellow manager. You shouldn't sit in the stands at a match when your colleague is feeling the pressure at that moment. I would never have done that.”

Van Bronckhorst said 'some guys on the board could have handled the situation in another way' as he claimed his squad could have been strengthened more after he secured Champions League group stage football for the first time in more than a decade thanks to a qualifying win over PSV Eindhoven.

He said: "As far as I'm concerned, our squad could have been strengthened after we reached the Champions League group stage that August at PSV's expense. Unfortunately, it didn't happen. When I got fired a few months later, I missed the support from above. Things didn't go well at that stage, especially when we fell nine points behind Celtic - that isn't allowed - but it's also good to look at the broader picture.

"I believe some guys on the board could have handled the situation in another way, especially if you assess how we performed in the previous campaign, but that's quickly forgotten.