Philippe Clement hurling Rangers players under a bus shows ignorance from a man with few Ibrox allies left
Ahead of last month’s trip to Old Trafford, Philippe Clement was adamant he’d never set out to park the bus.
But back at Ibrox this weekend, the Rangers boss was more than happy to hurl his players right underneath one. By insisting that no other manager could have changed the course of Sunday’s Scottish Cup shocker at home to Queen’s Park, he was placing the blame squarely at the team he sent out to face Callum Davidson’s Championship side.
It wasn’t down to his tactics or team selection, he insisted. It was all about the players and their lack of “composure, coolness”. Pointing to their emotions and nerves during a defiant post-match press conference, he went on. It was one of our big goals and our shortest chance to go to win a trophy this season,” said the Ibrox boss, scrambling for an excuse. “We all know that. That's probably also one of the reasons that the team was nervous in the second half because they wanted that so much because they know how important it is for the club.”
But given the beleaguered Belgian doesn’t have many allies around Ibrox these days, you have to wonder about the wisdom of castigating the men he is reliant upon putting in performances.
Terry Butcher tried that once when he was Hibs boss back in 2014 - and was left surprised when a Leith team he was supposed to lead into the top six ended up being relegated.
That’s not to absolve the Rangers players of responsibility for a result that will be written into the bleakest chapters of the club’s history books, slotted alongside those infamous Scottish Cup upsets against Berwick and Hamilton, the loses to Stirling Albion and Raith Rovers during the Journey and the bushwhacking at the hands of Progres Niederkorn under Pedro Caixinha. Far from it.
They deserve every stinging rebuke that will undoubtedly come their way. But to suggest, as Clement did, that the 30 attempts his side registered on goal where proof he’d got his game plan spot on is ignoring the reality of the situation. Yes, Queen’s keeper Calum Ferrie had the game of his life making a string of incredible saves late on, none more important than the 95th-minute spot-kick save from James Tavernier.
But the Spiders stopper had barely been called upon before the Ibrox hosts were forced to hit the panic button after Sebastian Drodz’s sensational opener with 20 minutes left.
Only then, with their heads ablaze, did urgency suddenly grip the home team.
Before that, the only folk diving about were the punters positioned behind the goals as they leapt for cover when Hamza Igamane, Vaclav Cerny, Nico Raskin and Cyriel Dessers all sent speculative shots from miles out well wide of target.
And that’s because despite what Clement may say, 16 months on from his appointment his team are still no clearer on how to break down a packed defence. When opponents stage a sit in, Rangers' ideas run dry.
It’s precisely why a team that can go toe-to-toe on the continent, qualifying for the Europa League knock-outs as one of the competition’s top eight sides, is staggering 13 points adrift of the title pace at home.
The manager is suggesting it was mindset and not method that cost his team but no-one is buying that. Celtic will have faced a team every bit as stubborn in their set-up as Queen’s when they played Raith Rovers on Saturday night. But Brendan Rodger’s team are a beast who’s method of attack is to rip and tear at defences until the spaces they need appear.
Clement’s Rangers, meanwhile, possess all the bite of a toothless toddler. And the trouble for the former Brugge and Monaco boss is that the fans at Ibrox are no longer listening to what he has to say. They’ve just heard him talk about budgets while trying to explain a defeat to a club that only turned professional in 2019.
They’ve tuned in while he’s made excuses and prattled on about chances created, about the evolution of players and the need for consistency - and now they’ve tuned out. Their faith in Clement is gone - and now the only man they want to hear from is the man who decides his future.
Clement’s credibility with the fans is shot - but it is the decisions that new CEO Patrick Stewart will take over the next few hours and days that will establish how he is viewed by the Ibrox legions. The former Manchester United exec only has to look to his former employers for a pertinent case study.
Jim Ratcliffe’s INEOS group were greeted as potential saviours when they invested in Old Trafford last year.
But they are now being viewed with the same scepticism as the hated Glazers having decided to keep Erik ten Hag as Red Devils boss last summer - before being forced to shoot the lame duck Dutchman only three months later.
Stewart got lucky last month when the fan protests that erupted at the Aberdeen game were quickly hushed by Clement’s side qualifying for the last 16 in Europe. But there’s a clear sense the fans won’t be silenced so easily this time.
He now has to decide whether to keep Clement at the wheel and risk crashing with the current boss - or throw the Belgian under the bus and head off in a new direction.
