Philippe Clement sack: Michael Gannon rages at Rangers as ‘rule book ripped up’
Michael Gannon cannot believe Philippe Clement is still the manager of Rangers after crashing out of the Scottish Cup.
Rangers bowed out of the Scottish Cup after losing 1-0 to Championship club Queen’s Park at Ibrox on Sunday (9 February), with Sebastian Drozd’s second-half goal giving the visitors a shock win.
The result has led to a lot of talk and speculation about Clement being sacked as the Light Blues manager, although the board has yet to make such a decision.
Rangers’ decision not to sack the Belgian tactician has left many fans and pundits infuriated, with Gannon now unleashing his wrath on the Glasgow giants.
Michael Gannon in Twilight zone amid Philippe Clement survival
Michael Gannon is so baffled by Clement remaining in charge of the Gers that he feels it is questioning his 25 years of experience as a journalist covering football.
He is of the view that the Premiership heavyweights have “ripped up the rule book” by keeping the 50-year-old at the helm despite crashing out of both domestic cup competitions and falling 13 points behind Celtic in the title race.
The journalist added that no one would have been surprised if the Ibrox outfit announced the decision to sack Clement immediately after the defeat against Queen’s Park.
“Clement is so far beyond getting sacked that none of us really know what the parameters or what the rules are anymore”, Gannon said on Daily Record’s Hotline Live (10 February). “We’ve literally tumbled into a Twilight zone that none of us has experienced before.
“For a Rangers manager to survive the immediate aftermath of yesterday on the back of being 13 points behind Celtic and losing the League Cup to Celtic… we are way beyond the normal operating factors that we deal with in football.
“I really don’t want to count how many managerial dismissals that I’ve covered in 25 years. I genuinely don’t know where we are now because they have completely ripped up the rule book with this kind of stuff.
“The Rangers fans have every right to expect last night to see a message saying, ‘Unfortunately, time to part company with the manager, wish him all the best’, and nobody would have batted an eyelid.
“If not last night, okay, first thing in the morning, but beyond that? So many stops passed that station. Nobody really knows how to deal with this situation.
“Rangers fans are like, ‘What is it going to take to get a big change here?'”.
Philippe Clement untouchable at Rangers?
Clement’s position as the Rangers manager has been questioned since the start of the season.
In the first half of the season, it appeared that the only reason the Belgian was still in Govan was because the club did not have a CEO and a permanent chairman in place.
However, they have since hired Patrick Stewart and Fraser Thornton as their CEO and chairman respectively, although they are yet to make a big call on Clement.
It is worth noting that the former Monaco manager is contracted to Rangers until 2028, having signed a new deal at the start of the season.
With three years left on his deal, Clement would be due a significant sum as compensation if he is to be sacked now.
That is perhaps why Stewart is reluctant to pull the plug on him.