Rangers come to senses just in time as they avoid pay-off as Philippe Clement job verdict shared
Rangers came to their senses by not appointing Frank Lampard as their manager, according to Gary Keown.
Lampard was widely reported to be in the running for the job after Michael Beale was sacked at the start of October.
However, there was a lot of negativity surrounding speculation linking Lampard with Ibrox due to how badly he’d done at Chelsea and Everton.
Newspaper columnist Keown has an issue with former big-name players being handed managerial jobs to them without much justification with Wayne Rooney the latest one to fit into that category as he’s struggling at Birmingham City.
Writing in the Scottish Mail on Sunday on 26 November (page 103), Keown said: “Wayne Rooney has no real right to be anywhere near the Birmingham City job. Same way Frank Lampard should never have been close to an interview for the manager’s position at Rangers.
“It has hardly been a great revelation of recent times that a stellar career as a player does not necessarily translate into success in the dugout.
“Yet, over and over again guys of this ilk keep getting calls, keep getting jobs and, inevitably, keep getting pay-offs when it all goes pearshaped.
“However it works out with Philippe Clement – and he hasn’t put a foot wrong so far – Rangers came to their senses just in time when appointing him over a guy who failed at Derby, Chelsea and Everton.”
So far, so good
Clement’s appointment has so far been a great one with the Belgian undefeated in seven games.
He’s won all four of his Scottish Premiership fixtures, booked a spot in the final of the Scottish League Cup and has also put the Gers in a very good position to qualify for the Europa League knock-out stages with four points against Sparta Prague.
Not only has he done that, he’s exuded a sense of calm and confidence away from matches.
He doesn’t chat absolute nonsense to the press like Michael Beale did and he hasn’t made wild proclamations like other ex-Rangers managers have done either.
You get the feeling that the 49-year-old isn’t here to be the headline act. There’s no ego, there’s just a very good manager who just wants to get his team to win each game every week.
There’s been too much focus on Celtic by previous managers. It’s become an obsession for them to talk about our Old Firm rivals as much as possible but you don’t get that with Clement.
Every game is treated like an Old Firm game by him, it feels, and that’s one of the reasons why he’s doing so well.
We’re so lucky it’s not Lampard in the dugout at Ibrox.
In other Rangers news, a finance expert has reacted to a Daily Record journalist blasting “ridiculous” figures at Ibrox.