The Philippe Clement Rangers nightmare that would mean time up as Alan Hutton reveals 'rinse and repeat' theory
Alan Hutton reckons Philippe Clement has the belief and backing of the Rangers board for the long haul, as long as he avoids a "nightmare" run that could see him axed.
Finally beating Celtic looked to have eased the pressure on the Belgian after a torrid festive period, but Gers then contrived to throw away a two-goal lead against Hibs at Easter Road in their very next outing, allowing the champions to mitigate the slight closing of the gap after that 3-0 defeat at Ibrox.
Hutton doesn't think there will be any knee-jerk reactions from the club hierarchy, who he is certain are all in with Clement and regular reminders that he needs time to build are more for the fans' benefit with the board on the same page as the manager. But the former Gers fullback warned that a horror run would leave the decision makers with no choice but to pull the trigger despite their hopes fir the future.
"I think he'll be there long term unless there's a nightmare on terms of a shocker of a run," Hutton told the Scottish Football Social Club. "I think they've decided that this rinse and repeat has to stop at some stage.
"If they go on a run of losing four in a row or whatever, maybe that's it. It's going to be difficult after that. I just feel that they believe in Clement. He's got the January window, he says it's going to take longer. He'll have the summer window and I think he will still be there to build something.
"It was never going to happen overnight. It wasn't short-term, they're tying to do it long term so if that's what they're looking at, you have to give him the time to do it.
"Their problem is they can't repeat it (performances against big teams) and that's what you have to be. If you want to be like Celtic and win leagues and trophies, you have to be consistent and they aren't there yet. We've seen what they are capable of, but unfortunately, they can't do it every single week."
