Clement non-negotiable to avoid Rangers sack shared before Celtic Old Firm derby
Stephen McGowan has claimed that an Old Firm victory is a “non-negotiable condition” for a Rangers manager with a failure to beat Celtic on Thursday likely to ramp up the pressure on Philippe Clement.
Rangers have failed in their attempts to defeat Celtic in all six of their encounters under Clement with the most recent loss coming in controversial fashion in the Scottish League Cup final against the Bhoys.
Pressure is constantly growing on Clement with the Gers now 14 points behind Celtic and McGowan has predicted that pressure to increase if Rangers suffer defeat once again on 2 January at Ibrox.
“Lose to Celtic again today and that becomes a difficult line to hold,” explained McGowan via the print edition of the Scottish Daily Mail (2 January, pg70).
“The Belgian has tried six times to secure his first win over the club’s oldest rivals and failed on every occasion.
“Winning Old Firm games is a non-negotiable condition of employment for a manager of Rangers.”
Clement needs a win against Celtic to save Rangers job
While there’s no clear indication that the Belgian will face the sack if they fail to win, it’s hard to imagine a way back for him at Ibrox if he suffers a seventh consecutive defeat against the Hoops.
Ultimately, success at Rangers is defined by the ability to beat Celtic and win trophies and Clement looks rather unlikely to achieve either of those accolades and enough is enough.
Rangers just haven’t looked capable of progressing under his stewardship and its quite remarkable that he has lasted this long in the job given the league performances and failure to win the Scottish League Cup.
Things need to improve urgently in a performance sense if Rangers are to secure anything of note against the league leaders but that has been heard far too many times.
Even with a win, it would seemingly do little other than paper over the cracks that have emerged at the club as a result of the lacklustre managerial attributes showcased by the Belgian.
In other Rangers news, John Mousinho has confirmed whether these rumours are true.
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