Regular readers to Ibrox Noise know we’re no longer as trusting of the Rangers manager Philippe Clement as we were.
He lost a lot of that with the 3-3, and a bunch of questionable decisions lately along with horrendous soundbites and quotes have done him no favours either.
But that said, Rangers simply cannot just keep going from manager to manager every season, and while we urge caution over Clement’s abilities under pressure, swapping manager again would be beyond frustrating.
The reason this popped up is the likely exodus this summer – Rangers look, as we’ve reported, to be shipping out up to a dozen players in a mass cull of the dross that’s filled our squad for too long.
It’s a likely changing of the old guard.
However, what happened when ex-manager Michael Beale brought in a tonne of players himself last summer?
He went from 26 great results in a row the previous season, League Cup Final loss aside, to opening the next season with a loss.
Very quickly it unravelled and he was handed his P45 not long after.
If Clement, regardless of this season, starts next season as badly as Beale started last one, what do we do?
With a bunch of new players, Clement will have the preseason to work with most of them (aside those at the summer tournaments) just like Beale did, and the potential is there for a slow start to the season for sure.
Will we just dump the man and fire him?
And what then?
This is why, despite our concerns about his abilities, we urge time to be given here next season. That even if we do not start the season well, Clement gets the slack he needs – if things are completely dead and buried by December, sure, we can maybe revisit these sentiments a little perhaps, but Clement may well need quite a few months Angie-style to get his new charges up to speed.
This isn’t, of course, a free pass, but Clement is simply no Walter Smith, the miracle worker who could get wine from water. And even Walter himself did take two and a half years to regain the SPL title (January 2007-May 2009) despite the genius of the man, so Clement does have a bit of freedom per se.
Success rarely comes overnight, and this may all have a massively-different complexion should we achieve 56 this season, but what’s for sure;
Regardless of where we might disagree with Clement, he’s the Rangers manager and he needs the backing from fans as well as the board.
Over to you Philippe.