This is probably a mega controversial article and Ibrox Noise makes no apology for publishing it, but after yet another horror performance tonight from Rangers it’s inspired by that stat doing the rounds, that we’ve double and triple-checked.

We will be abused by some for sure, and in no way is this content strictly an endorsement of ex-manager Michael Beale, or a criticism of Philippe Clement.

This is simply laying out the cold hard facts and leaving the readers to conclude their own views from it.

Which is to say that Michael Beale actually had a better start to his Rangers league career than Philippe Clement has, with a better overall record.

So we wanted to check it:

Beale:

19 matches regular season, 16 wins, 1 draw, 2 losses. The split, one draw, 4 wins.

So the first 24 matches (over two seasons) – 20 wins, 2 draws, 2 losses

Clement:

24 matches regular season, 19 wins, 3 draws, 2 losses.

Clement then went onto draw his 25th v Dundee, Beale lost his debut match the following season v Killie but won the second match.

So it’s really 25 matches, 20 wins, 2 draws, 3 losses for Beale, and the same for Clement aside one extra draw.

There may be the odd mathematical error in here (there’s a migraine at Ibrox Noise Towers after that performance), but there certainly isn’t much a difference between the two managers, numbers wise.

We offer no conclusion here, other than we’re seeing repeating patterns.

Giovanni?

24 matches, 17 wins, 5 draws and 2 losses.

Both Beale and Clement offer notable improvement over the Dutchman in terms of league record, but are almost factually identical to each other for results.

There is of course a massive caveat here – which is that Rangers are not completely dead and buried this season (close to it though) – by this point in April under Beale and Gio, the league was completely gone. This made the Split much more redundant under both of them, and both won four of 5, drawing the other.

But Rangers are a bit more in the hunt, because Gio and Beale faced the juggernaut of Angie’s Celtic that didn’t drop a point pretty much, while Rodgers’ Celtic has spilled points all over the place.

The difference between Clement and Beale’s Rangers league record is that Beale was up against a Celtic who didn’t give an inch, and won the league with many weeks to spare.

Clement has produced the exact same results (actually marginally inferior) as Beale, but Rodgers is nowhere near the boss at Celtic that Angie was.

Meaning we’re slightly more in this, even if it’s currently hanging by a very thin thread.

So have we progressed over Michael Beale?

Aside the League Cup trophy, we are now actually worse off for pure comparative league results, unfortunately.

Make of that what you will.