Roger Hannah drops ‘Big’ Rangers job verdict for Philippe Clement as ‘Margin for Error’ claim made
Philippe Clement has got “absolutely no margin for error” ahead of the January transfer window after becoming the new Rangers manager, says Roger Hannah.
The Belgian was appointed as the new boss at Ibrox on a four-year deal on Sunday (15 October), replacing Michael Beale ahead of the club returning to action at Ibrox next week in the SPFL.
But while fans remain unhappy with the things happening behind the scenes, The Scottish Sun journalist Hannah told Clyde 1 Superscoreboard (17 October) that the new manager has a “big” job ahead of him with some huge games coming up before the next international break.
“Listen, any team that gets a new manager in they’re going to see the positives in the appointment,” he said. “They want to see the positives in him.
“There’s probably less excitement. You’ll remember how Steven Gerrard was greeted that May afternoon at Ibrox, thousands of people turned out. He was box office for Rangers.
“When Giovanni van Bronckhorst came back he was embraced as a guy who had won the treble as a player for Rangers. When Michael Beale came back last year, despite what people will tell you on the phones in the last couple of weeks, there was a lot of positivity around Beale’s appointment because people put him down to having had a great role in title number 55 under Steven Gerrard.
“This time there isn’t the link with Philippe Clement. That’s not to say it’s a bad appointment, nobody knows if it’s a good or bad appointment. But it’s a big job for Philippe Clement.
“Kenny says he can’t do anything until the window in January, he’ll have to do something quickly. Because it’s Hibs, it’s Sparta Prague, it’s Hearts, it’s Sparta Prague again and then it’s Hearts again in a League Cup semi-final.
“There is no margin for error in the Premiership. Very little margin for error in that Europa League group after the defeat in Cyprus and a League Cup semi-final at Hampden, there’s absolutely no margin for error.”
Poor
Clement has barely even been in the door for five minutes and he’s already had the pressure piled on him by those from outside the club, and that’s quite poor.
Fans have made it clear that they haven’t really been excited by anyone that was in the running to become the new manager at Ibrox, because in truth there was no outstanding candidate.
But the fans have also made it very clear that they will back whoever it is that gets selected, and Clement has the backing of the fans to turn things around.
The next five games are absolutely huge with some very high stakes, but the manage doesn’t need to be told that and he will know that he has to turn things around quickly and not just wait until the January transfer window.
Right now the results are the most important thing because we can’t afford to fall further away from Celtic and have to progress in the cup competitions to have a chance of making this season a success.
In other Rangers news, Chris Sutton takes a final swipe at Michael Beale.