Rangers blow £40m as ‘ridiculous’ Clement torn to shreds in newspaper
Gary Keown has torn Philippe Clement to shreds for the “ridiculous” tenure in charge of Rangers.
The Gers have been well below the expected levels this term with 16 points separating them and Celtic at the Scottish Premiership table.
With only cup action left to play for this season, getting knocked out of the Scottish Cup against Queen’s Park has left plenty of questions surrounding Clement’s Rangers future, not for the first time in his tenure.
Keown highlights £40m Rangers blunder
After a poor start to the season, it did look as though the Light Blues’ form may have been turning a corner of late but their cup exit meant reality came crashing back down.
Supporters have not made much secret of their disappointment with both their manager and the hierarchy at Rangers this term, with expectations at Ibrox certainly not met.
Furthermore, while there has been plenty of speculation surrounding the Belgian’s future in Glasgow, despite numerous low points this term, Clement remains at the Ibrox helm.
However, Keown’s assessment, written in the print edition of the Scottish Mail on Sunday (16 February, page 94) has suggested that a change in management is the only solution as he said: “Freaky results are not the problem with Clement. It is a year-long run of calamities – and ridiculous excuses for them – dating back to a home loss to Motherwell early last March that have made it crystal-clear to everyone other than those upstairs at Ibrox that this a guy completely in the wrong movie.
“Clement and his side had the Premiership title – and an estimated £40million from automatic entry to the Champions League – in the palm of their hand last year and blew it by stumbling at home to the Fir Park side, drawing at Dundee and losing to Ross County.
“They got a second bit at the cherry when coming up against a desperately mediocre Dynamo Kyiv in this term’s qualifiers for European football’s top tournament and fell flat on their faces again.”
Philippe Clement has outstayed his welcome at Rangers
As Keown points out, there are plenty of places along the way where you can point out the Gers offering well below what is expected, yet the Belgian has kept his position as the boss.
Just how badly the Light Blues have fallen away this season is staggering and that made the cup competitions even more vital for Clement this term.
However, after crashing out of the Scottish Cup, there is only Europa League action left for Rangers to win anything now and they certainly aren’t the favourites to do so.
There have been suggestions from some that things are only staying in place at Ibrox due to a lack of financial ability to relieve the manager of his duties.
However, this in itself, highlights a wider problem at Ibrox with this mismanagement of finances which has left the club struggling when it comes to making the moves they need to in the transfer window.
To bring improvement to the Glasgow outfit will require change in numerous places but surely that has to start with the man who is managing the side.