Pundit shares damning Rangers claim as Giovanni van Bronckhorst ‘digs’ at Ibrox board
Noel Whelan has claimed Giovanni van Bronckhorst’s controversial financial comments may have been a “dig” at the Rangers board.
The former Leeds striker, speaking exclusively to Football Insider, suggested the Gers would need “a whole new team” to be able to compete in the Champions League.
Rangers fell to a 4-0 defeat away at Ajax on Wednesday (7 September) in their first group game since returning to the Champions League.
Speaking post-match and quoted by the Daily Record, Van Bronckhorst claimed the Ibrox club need “hundreds of millions” in order to compete in Europe’s premier competition.
He claimed competing with the likes of Ajax and Liverpool is “too much to ask” but admitted he was “disappointed” with his sides’ display.
Rangers failed to add to their squad in the final throes of the summer window despite Champions League group stage qualification netting them a likely revenue of around £100million for the year (as per Kieran Maguire).
Whelan told Football Insider‘s Ewan Kingsbury: “It might be a bit of a dig at the board.
“But looking across the field – they’d need a whole new team to be able to compete against Ajax.
“Man for man, you’d choose the Ajax players over the Rangers players. That’s just where they’re at.
“Ajax have always been a top team with a fantastic record of bringing young players through.
“Van Bronckhorst has put his hands up and admitted Rangers were up against a better side – and they will be often in the Champions League.
“They’ll rarely be favourites in this competition – whether that’s at home, or away.”
In other news, Rangers icon issues “devastating” Jon McLaughlin claim.