Philippe Clement sack mooted at Rangers as Ibrox board stance shared
Philippe Clement has the backing of the Rangers hierarchy, according to journalist John McGarry, but he may not have much time based on previous Ibrox managers.
The Gers fell to a 1-0 defeat in the Scottish Cup final last weekend as Adam Idah scored a last-minute Celtic winner to complete a double.
This compiled the Light Blues’ misery after missing out on the Scottish Premiership by eight points after a poor end to the season.
Despite this, McGarry has suggested in an article for the Daily Mail (28 May) that the Rangers board will keep him in the job – for now.
He said: “Despite it all going rather flat in the end as Celtic won a Premiership and Scottish Cup double, the 50-year-old retains the faith of his paymasters and most supporters.”
The journalist likened the Belgian’s situation to that of both Giovanni van Bronckhorst and Michael Beale, who were sacked early into a season. This could be the fate of Clement in the coming months.
Rangers could look to replace Philippe Clement
There is no doubt that the end-of-season form was frustrating and eventually resulted in losing out on the title once again.
The form in Old Firm clashes has been simply unacceptable and ultimately culminated in missing out on the Scottish Cup in the final at Hampden.
It’s going to be a testing summer for Clement to try and navigate with plenty of outgoings and he will hope for some new signings.
He does deserve to have a pre-season and some time moving into the new campaign to try and hit some form.
If it isn’t working by the second half of the campaign then he may potentially be cut off, but if Clement has proved anything it’s that chopping and changing isn’t sustainable.
The Rangers hierarchy need to give him time to get his ideas across with his own squad that he has built over a pre-season and summer transfer window.
In other Rangers news, Jack Butland has been told to extend his Ibrox stay after a shock official announcement.
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