There Is No Way Back for Philippe Clement at Rangers – He Must Go
Rangers suffered arguably their worst ever defeat in the club’s history by getting knocked out of the Scottish Cup to Championship side Queens Park 1-0 at Ibrox. It was a catastrophic result, and it’s one that Philippe Clement will not be able to come back from.
It truly was a pitiful display from the Light Blues and the backlash from the Rangers faithful has been strong with calls for Philippe Clement to be sacked from his position.
It’s been a poor domestic season as Clement’s men also lost the league cup final to Celtic and find themselves 13 points behind their greatest rivals in the league. The only bright spark has been the Europa League campaign where the Ibrox club finished in the top eight and are in the last 16 of the competition.
The Rangers boss defended himself in the post-match press conference after the embarrassing cup exit and refused to resign as manager and doesn’t expect to be sacked. He said: “No, I don’t expect that because you can put another manager in this game, and would it be different in that sense?
“The progression was made and the top eight in Europe was made, more consistency in the league and all these things, they don’t change in 90 minutes. So, I don’t expect [to be sacked] now.”
The 50-year-old also dropped an F-bomb in the press conference: “It’s a f*****g frustrating one. Sorry to use that word, but it’s my feeling for the moment.”
It spoke volumes that the Belgian apologised for swearing but didn’t think about apologising to the supporters for the result.
Host and founder of the Heart & Hand Podcast David Edgar spoke to Breaking The Lines on where the Gers and Clement go from here: “Rangers as a club now have to focus on next season and making sure we don’t have another like this one. But Clement can’t be a part of it.
“He is too far gone with the support. Him leaving is now inevitable. The board can delay it, but it will happen. They should have done it immediately, to show that they wouldn’t accept a result like Sunday. All they achieve by prolonging his tenure is further alienating the support. Clement doesn’t seem to understand the magnitude of the defeat.”
There has been speculation that the board can’t afford to sack Clement. Edgar believes that after a devastating loss like that there is no way back for any Rangers manager: “There is the money there to sack him and Patrick Stewart has said it publicly so it can’t be that.
“I think they must feel that he had a lot of issues to contend with this season in terms of cutting the wage bill, Hampden etc and it’s true. So, they maybe feel he deserves to be cut some slack.
“However, the reality at any football club and even more so at ours is that once the fans lose all trust in the manager, it can’t be fixed. Managers don’t come back from it. Fans don’t believe in him.
“I think the issue is a fundamentally different viewpoint between fans and him on what constitutes success. What he thinks is acceptable – and might be at other clubs – isn’t true here.”
Rangers fans have all seen this movie before and they know how it ends. Clement is finished in the eyes of the fans, and it’s only a matter of time before he departs the club. It’s going to be a long second half of the season for the Govan club.
By: Scott Bradley / @ScottBradleyX
Featured Image: @GabFoligno / Ross MacDonald – SNS Group