Former Rangers star Ronald de Boer believes Giovanni van Bronckhorst has done a great job in succeeding Steven Gerrard as manager at Ibrox.

While he did pay tribute to how Gerrard has created the foundations for success, de Boer believes van Bronckhorst has managed to stamp his own identity on the team in a very short period of time:

“Filling the shoes of Steven Gerrard was not easy but so far they’ve done it with a lot of confidence and a lot of belief. They have changed the system a little bit and use the wingers a bit more. They are a bit more dynamic than they were with Steven in charge.”

“But I think Steven also deserves huge compliments because he was the one who put the foundations for this Rangers team down and allowed Gio to take over. With the extra quality that Gio and his staff have brought, they’ve been able to reach the final.”

“Would Gio have had to think twice about replacing someone like Gerrard? Yeah of course because when you come in, everything looked fine. There was not a lot wrong. Usually if you go in as a new coach when things have not been going well, there’s lots of room to improve.”

Rangers supporters will be disappointed by not retaining the title but, in his first six months in charge, van Bronckhorst has certainly shown he is capable of taking this club forward.

After the Europa League final, fans also have the Scottish Cup final this weekend to look forward to, which means there is ample opportunity for the season to end on a high.

Van Bronckhorst will probably be looking to implement more changes in the summer months ahead of next campaign, where it will be hoped that the Scottish club can challenge their Old Firm rivals Celtic on all fronts.