Gary Keown tears Rangers chief John Bennett to shreds after ‘jaw-dropping’ Ibrox turn of events
Gary Keown has slammed Rangers chairman John Bennett for several decisions the club have made since the arrival of Philippe Clement, questioning how they managed to attract the boss in the first place.
First, the Scottish Mail on Sunday journalist pointed to the public row with referee Willie Collum, before moving on to the refusal to come to an agreement with Celtic over away allocations, and lastly the finances at Ibrox.
This rant, directed at Bennett, questioned Clement’s reasoning for joining Rangers and suggested he may already be regretting that decision with too much going on behind the scenes.
Writing in his column for the Scottish Mail on Sunday [21 January, pages 94/95], Keown ranted: “Lord knows how Rangers sold themselves to the former Club Brugge boss. Chairman John Bennett probably hit him with a bit of his tried-and-tested ‘best-in-class’ spiel.
“A quick look under the bonnet has quickly disabused Clement of the notion he’s in the centre of a well-oiled, fully functional machine.
“The politically-idiotic move of demanding Willie Collum should never referee their games again somehow turned them from having the moral high ground in the row over some atrocious officiating at that last Old Firm game to being the bampots shouting at passing traffic again.
“The inability to sit down with Celtic and work out a solution to away fans being banned from the biggest derby in the country, a stand-off that tarnishes the spectacle so badly, reflects poorly on everyone involved.
“The release of those annual accounts, meanwhile, that showed a £64million wage bill and a net loss of over £4million at the end of a campaign which involved Champions League football and the £20million sale of Calvin Bassey to Ajax were just jaw-dropping.”
Plenty going on behind the scenes
Keown is right when he points to what is a shambles in the background at Rangers. The club has always been very involved in off-field issues, but in recent months they seem to have accelerated to new heights.
Very public rows with referees, to the point where the club demands they don’t officiate any of their games, is not a good look. The Celtic debate has issues on both sides and needs to be resolved, whereas the financial running of the club has been questionable.
However, it’s not Clement’s job to worry about what the club and the chairman are getting involved in behind the scenes at Ibrox, he must simply focus on the football and let those in the background do as they please.
Still with just one competitive defeat as Rangers manager, albeit the one they didn’t want to lose against Celtic, Clement can still be pleased with some elements of the club after his short time in the role, and it’s certainly not all doom and gloom at Ibrox.
In other Rangers news, a BBC pundit gushed over one Rangers star after what he did.
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