Ibrox Fans In A Fury As Van Bronckhorst Decision Remains Up In The Air.

Mustering sympathy of the Ibrox faithful is never going to be other than impossible. That’s why today I feel only a sense of joy at the way they are reacting to the news that Van Bronckhorst expects to stay as manager, at least past the immediate crisis.

For everyone who enjoys watching them suffer, this is sweet music. Whether or not it can be sustained, under what it certain to be a heavy barrage of criticism and fury, is another question, but for now he hangs on and fair play to him for that.

The Dutch media tonight say that he expects to stay, that the board accepts that injuries are a mitigating factor and that they’ve told him he has to do better. The upshot though is that he’s staying, for the moment, and will have more chances to fall further behind.

As I said on here at the weekend, we should not be surprised if they decide not to get rid of him right now. But it will make their lives difficult, and it remains to be seen whether or not they can survive the firestorm of protest which will inevitably follow.

We’ve been here, of course, waiting for Lennon to be sacked. When the board didn’t give him a penny to spend in January the writing was on the wall. I would not be terribly surprised if this was the thinking inside Ibrox.

That would mean their having the courage to concede the title race and accept that the club is facing a major rebuild. It would mean telling the fans some hard truths, and telling Van Bronckhorst himself that he was going at the end of the campaign.

That club does not have the wit or the courage for any of that, so what this looks like, and especially to their fans, is a meandering mess with the board frozen in the headlights and not knowing what to do next. Their strategy has always hinged on putting off hard choices … in the end they will have to make one here, but it looks like they will delay as long as they can.

It’s beautiful. It’s perfect. And I have no sympathy for their fans at all.