Giovanni van Bronckhorst and Peter Bosz go way back.
Bosz was the captain of Feyenoord when Van Bronckhorst was beginning his professional career with the Eredivisie giants in the 1990s. The pair would be reunited in 2007; the latter’s return to De Kuip coinciding with the former’s appointment as Feyenoord’s technical director.
It seemed fitting, then, that when Van Bronckhorst led the Rotterdam giants to their first league title since the turn of the century five-and-a-half years ago, it was at the expense of his old mentor. Feyenoord finished one place and one point above Bosz’s Ajax in a nerve-shredding title race.
Will the mentor replace the pupil at Rangers?
“He has been there almost my whole career,” Van Bronckhorst reflected ahead of a reunion between the two Dutchman in September 2021; Bosz’s Lyon eventually triumping 2-0 at Ibrox in the UEFA Europa League group-stages.
“When I was a young player coming from the academy of Feyenoord, Peter was the captain of the team. He really welcomed me in the squad and was very helpful.
“After that, he was the technical director of Feyenoord when I came back in 2007 after my time at Barcelona. I had a lot of conversations with him. I really enjoyed our friendship over the years. He has been there almost all of my career.”
The irony will not be lost on Van Bronckhorst, then, if the pupil ends up losing his job to his old master. According to the Scottish Daily Express, Bosz, 12 years his compatriot’s senior, is in the running to take over at Ibrox following Van Bronckhorst’s sudden but not-unjustifiable sacking on Monday morning.
‘Beautiful attacking football’
Bosz, who turns 60 in 2023, is without a club following his departure from Lyon recently. While his track record at the very top of the European game remains somewhat mixed, Bosz’s self-styled preference for ‘beautiful attacking football’, complete with all the mod cons (high pressing, rapid transitions and a monopoly on possession) may capture the imagination of Rangers supporters glancing jealously over the road at their free-scoring local rivals Celtic.
Bosz and Ange Postecoglou, after all, share the same underlying principles of how the football should be played. Putting the ‘beautiful’ into the ‘Beautiful game’. Take Lyon’s commanding victory over Van Bronckhorst’s Rangers 14 months ago, for instance. Just look at the way they carved apart the home team with 37 minutes on the clock.
Lyon drag Rangers out of position on the flank; one playmaker releasing another with an ingenious nutmeg, before rampaging right-back Malo Gusto fires wide from inside the penalty area. In the build up to Lyon’s decisive second goal, meanwhile, they hounded Rangers into a mistake on the edge of their own penalty area before doubling the lead. Indicative of the type of modern, front-foot football Bosz could bring to a Rangers. A side who, far far too long, have lacked an identity and any semblence of a coherent game plan.
“Most of the team has been together for quite a long time. The players know each other and the way they play. That adds some strength to the team,” Bosz said of Rangers last year; highlighting the ‘very special atmosphere’ the home fans so renowned for on the Ibrox terraces.
“They do have good players. That’s another strength.”
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