'Hurts a lot of Rangers supporters' - Pundit reacts to imminent Clement sack claims

Philippe Clement supposedly being one game away from losing his job at Rangers doesn’t make any sense to Alan Rough who believes the Belgian has done quite well.

Speaking on PLZ Soccer on 23 September the former Scotland keeper admitted he didn’t understand where the idea that a sacking might be imminent has come from, especially when the Light Blues are starting to improve.

Clement has been under pressure since an unspectacular start to the season was compounded by a dismal 3-0 loss at Celtic prior to the international break, but two wins against Dundee United and Dundee since have shown some signs of recovery.

Peter Martin said (15m 30s): “There’s a real narrative going about at the moment Roughy that Philippe Clement is one game away from getting the sack, and John Gilligan’s coming out today backing the manager.”

Rough replied: “I don’t get that. I don’t get the swell of the people you’re talking about saying he’s one bad game away, getting beat by Malmo or something like that, I think he’s went about his job properly.

“Obviously Celtic are doing particularly well which always hurts a lot of Rangers supporters but I think himself, even with the Dundee game, I think they looked pretty good with some of the new guys coming in, so maybe you have to sit in there and believe that some of the players take a wee bit of time to settle and hang on in there.

“I don’t get that he’s done particularly bad.”

Alan Rough baffled by Rangers exit claims

Clement has probably suffered from a lack of alternative figureheads to direct blame at for the collective failings at Ibrox in recent months.

John Bennett seemed to holding the fort almost single-handedly at the top and the former chairman was heavily criticised [Robert Grieve, 11 September] but has now stepped down on health grounds, while captain James Tavernier has, as ever, taken it in the neck.

It is true that neither the manager, the right-back or the former chair can entirely escape criticism for the current situation as they all play a role and could have done better in some areas.

But it feels like Clement would need to cause far greater problems to trigger a third managerial sacking in as many seasons, and a fourth change in four after Steven Gerrard’s exit kicked off the damaging cycle.

The Ibrox hierarchy made the decision to stick with Clement through a bad start to the season before it had even arrived [The Herald, 27 July], partly because they probably saw it coming after a frustrating transfer window, and partly because hitting reset yet again is a large cause of the current problems.

The manager’s standing has taken a number of hits since last term, with confusing team selections and comments about beating Ross County in the wake of an Old Firm thrashing rightly calling his judgment into question [Gordon Parks, 5 September].

But it doesn’t look like Rangers have the will or the ability to get rid of him and start again right now, especially after giving him a year’s contract extension in the summer.

In other Rangers news, a suspicion has emerged on why the Light Blues were snubbed at the last minute by the frontrunner for a key job at Ibrox.

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