It sounded like in the last piece we were blaming Philippe Clement purely and solely – he does have a big part in this, just like every predecessor who made all the same mistakes.
But goodness me the players have bottomed out.
They’re no longer playing for this club or this manager.
Just like with every other boss, the defence is now static and leaking goals all over the place, the midfield is immobile and lethargic, while up front is profligate and relying on Tav scoring a penalty or an OG.
It’s the same Rangers as it ended up being under Michael Beale, under Giovanni, under Stevie.
And while we can certainly blame a lot of it on Philippe Clement as we did with his predecessors, the squad are doing the same now as they did in the past.
The only started who showed any guts today was Todd Cantwell. He worked hard and tried. But then you had no-show Dowell next to him making life harder, while Lundstram looks now clearly unfocused based on his contract.
Add Borna, Tav and Goldson, and what did you, I, or Big Phil expect?
It’s the same insanity as previous managers – doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results.
Fair play, the boss got us the League Cup – a trophy is worth its weight in gold.
But he’s failed twice v Celtic, and he’s lost two of his last three SPL matches, drawing the other.
The domestic honeymoon is well and truly done, and both players and manager hold massive accountability here.
The players aren’t working like they did, while the manager sits idly by backing them.
It’s not working any more.
The league title now is hanging by a thread, and the game in hand’s insurance is gone. We now trail by four points with that game in hand, and we’re not going to win at Parkhead if we can’t beat them at home or County away.
Celtic are now getting their form a little, and Phil’s picked the worst time to sit loyal with his players who are now picking their worst time to lose the momentum.
Beale all over again? End of Gio?
Changing manager won’t fix this – we were 100% convinced Clement would drop Tav and Goldson inside a week of watching them, instead he’s done the opposite and stuck by them come hell or high water.
If he refuses to do it, no one else will do it.
And that means no one else has any power to fix Rangers and restore us to where we should be.
Lord knows where we go from here.