Rangers manager Philippe Clement arrived at Ibrox in October 2022
Rangers manager Philippe Clement arrived at Ibrox in October 2022

Rangers great mystery raised after thumping win over Nice

Zak Anderton

Zak is a professional football writer from the UK. He is a Sports Journalism graduate from Leeds Trinity University and has previously worked on websites such as TEAMtalk and Planet Sport. He started working at Breaking Media in June 2024 and covers a range of their club websites.

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Scott McDermott believes Rangers are one of the "great mysteries" of Scottish Football after they demolished Nice 4-1 in the Europa League on Thursday.

The Gers have performed well below par in the Scottish Premiership this season, with the club currently sitting third in the league.

Speaking on the Scottish Football Podcast (29 November), journalist McDermott shared his thoughts on the way Philippe Clement's men played against the Ligue 1 outfit.

"Incredible. This Rangers team is becoming one of the great mysteries of Scottish football in terms of how they can perform so well in Europe, especially away from home, but struggle so badly domestically," he said.

"Nice are a good team, doing well in the French top flight. Everything that we'd read and been told said they were going to be as good as Lyon, who dismantled Rangers at Ibrox earlier in the competition.

"But, my word, what a performance away from home. It was a thoroughly deserved win, textbook in terms of playing in the counter-attack, and Rangers could have scored even more goals.

"The contrast and performances between European and domestic is quite incredible."

Rangers need to replicate their Europa League form domestically

If Clement had the Gers sitting second in the Scottish Premiership and just a few points from Celtic, it's unlikely that questions about his future would even be getting brought up.

Across all other competitions, such as the Scottish League Cup and the Europa League, the Belgian's team have more often than not put on solid performances and have shown that they can compete with some far stronger teams than the likes of Kilmarnock, who they somehow lost against.

Philippe Clement
Rangers manager Philippe Clement (credit: Imago)

Unfortunately for the 50-year-old, however, that hasn't been the case, and it feels like if he doesn't get his act together in the league, he could be shown the exit door as soon as Patrick Stewart takes on his role as Rangers CEO on 16 December.

The January transfer window is just around the corner and without some significant backing, it's hard to see any way that Clement could try and get his team to close the gap between themselves and the top spot.

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