Where has it all gone wrong for Philippe Clement at Rangers?

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Where has it all gone wrong for Philippe Clement at Rangers?
GLASGOW, SCOTLAND - OCTOBER 03: Philippe Clement, Head Coach of Rangers FC looks on prior to the UEFA Europa League 2024/25 League Phase MD2 match between Rangers FC and Olympique Lyonnais at Ibrox Stadium on October 03, 2024 in Glasgow, Scotland. (Photo by Ian MacNicol/Getty Images)

It does seem like an infinite cycle loop for Rangers fans. New manager, becomes the saviour after a massive upsurge in results, then over time it dwindles, fans lose faith and before we know it we’re in the hunt for a new boss again.

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It’s happened three times since Steven Gerrard’s rather unexpected exit, and since 2012 Rangers have gone through managers like a hot knife through butter.

And we have to admit we wanted Clement all the way back in October last year, and his start at the club was excellent. He got the League Cup and was seen as a miracle worker.

But the earliest sign of Clement’s poor mentality and propensity for errors and misjudgement came when Rangers had to repeatedly rescue a loss to Celtic at Ibrox to scrape a 3-3 – the manager called this a ‘moral victory’, in the first of many appalling and ‘unRangersy’ things this boss has said.

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Having already lost against Celtic, the manager seemed to think a point was a good thing, and if we’re honest, there was an even earlier sign Rangers had got the wrong man.

After a late Danilo winner v Hearts at Ibrox in October last year, the manager, instead of slaughtering the horrible performance we’d just seen, instead praised it because we won – this wasn’t the honesty Rangers fans needed, although most bought into his thinking instead.

This was our quick early Ibrox Noise doubt that Clement was a bad call, and we were happy that the League Cup triumph seemed to maybe be proving us wrong.

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But sadly the League Cup was as good as it got under this manager. He blew the title, just as he had (blown their position) at Monaco, by capitulating after doing all the good work already.

In short, Philippe Clement cannot cope with big club demand under pressure.

He couldn’t do it at Monaco, and he can’t do it at Rangers.

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He, like Michael Beale, can cope with less expectation – Beale shone at QPR, Clement was great at Genk and Brugge.

But at the must-win of Rangers, both crumbled, and now Clement evidently just wants out of the club.

It takes a big man to handle the pressure at Ibrox. Gerrard could, Walter of course could. Warburton and Pedro couldn’t. Gio actually could.

It’s not just about the players, a great manager like Walter can make a winner out of Kirk Broadfoot for goodness’ sake.

You need a boss who knows how to win, and how to make use of what he has to win at a club with the demands of Rangers.

Clement isn’t that man.

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