'Madness' - Pundit reacts to 'As Damning as it Gets' Rangers fact, Clement not expected to get time

Philippe Clement won’t be given time at Rangers with his job under pressure after a bad start to the season, says Tam McManus.

The pundit reacted on PLZ Soccer’s YouTube channel on 21 October after the Light Blues’ record of one away goal all season was laid up by host Peter Martin, who suggested, “that’s as damning as it gets”.

McManus was shocked to see such a bad statistic attached a club the size of Rangers, and doesn’t expect the Belgian to last long as things stand.

McManus said (19m 40s): That’s the lack of creativity that Rangers have got. We’ve seen it over the course of the whole season really, they struggle to create chances…

“I’ve never seen a stat like that Peter, Rangers away from home only scoring one goal. I don’t know how many games they’ve played away from home, three or four games, but that’s madness for a club the size of Rangers to have that kind of goalscoring record.”

He later added on Clement’s prospects (23m 45s): “I think at any other club he probably would get that time, but I don’t think he will at Rangers.”

Rangers boss on the brink after Kilmarnock defeat

To be exact Clement has taken his side to Tynecastle, Parkhead, Tannadice and now Rugby Park and come away with four points and scored the solitary goal in the 1-0 win over Dundee United on 15 September.

That is arguably one of the trickier selections of away trips, but the opening day goalless draw with Hearts looks all the worse now that they are languishing just above the foot of the table, and the 3-0 hammering in the Old Firm derby was dreadful by any measure when the Gers boss now has a record of zero wins over Celtic in five attempts.

Kilmarnock’s victory has ramped up the speculation that a change could be made, with the victorious manager, Derek McInnes tipped as a potential replacement by Martin and Alison McConnell.

It seems unlikely that Rangers would particularly want to make a change after realising the damage a cycle of hiring and firing has caused in recent seasons [The Herald, 27 July], and giving Clement an extra year on his deal before the campaign started.

John Gilligan in as interim chair, after John Bennett had to resign on health grounds, and has his plate full with attempting to find a new chief executive, and ultimately his own replacement, so there will be doubts that the current hierarchy has the capacity to deal with a manager search on top.

But while there is some expectation that sacking Clement would be financially unviable and cost millions to pay him off [David Edgar, 21 October], Martin claims he has been told be multiple agents that there was likely a clause included with the 50-year-old’s extension that will let the club get rid of him for only minor compensation.

Rangers are frankly stuck between a rock and a hard place now because since rid of the manager will set them back once again and add to the same costs and confusion that Giovanni van Bronckhorst’s and Michael Beale’s exits did.

But the status quo is looking bleak and missing such a golden opportunity to close the gap after Aberdeen drew 2-2 at Celtic on Saturday, limply going down 1-0 in a game the Light Blues would have needed to win anyway, was almost as damning in itself as the away record as a whole.

In other Rangers news, the club had to shelve major plans after a big issue emerged at Ibrox.

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