'Outrageous' - Keevins: Rangers may now be forced to sack Clement in next 24hrs

Rangers will not be able to leave Philippe Clement in place if his side suffers another poor result against Motherwell, says Hugh Keevins.

The Daily Record journalist wrote on his 3 November column for the paper’s website that the Belgian is now the target of the fans’ ire because he is now seen as an “impediment to progress” at Ibrox.

While admitting there are a myriad of problems at Rangers currently Keevins pointed to Clement’s increasingly unbelievable excuses for failings on the pitch as why his position is almost untenable.

He has already been forced to revise his own opinion on the 50-year-old, whom he considered a “truly credible manager” upon arrival last year, but now feels the contract extension the Gers boss received this summer was a hopeless gesture and claims failure to progress to the Premier Sports Cup will force John Gilligan to admit as much, saying: “It would not be a case of the club not being able to afford to sack Clement. They would not be able to afford to keep him.”

Keevins wrote: “[Clement] is seen as an impediment to progress and coming up with outrageous statements to camouflage the stricken nature of his team is doing more harm than good.

“Further adversity today would mean doing nothing is not an option.”

Rangers languish nine points of Celtic and Aberdeen

The direction of travel at Ibrox looks worryingly clear at this stage and defeat to Motherwell would only add to that evidence.

Even a win seems highly unlikely to lead to any future joy when there is so little faith that this side can pass any of the big tests.

And when Brendan Rodgers Hoops’ thrashed the Dons 6-0 in the other semi an Old Firm final on 2 November has the potential to be an appalling experience.

In most circumstances the record on the pitch would have been bad enough to lose Clement his job, but the complete loss of the air of authority he carried eight months ago is arguably the most worrying thing about him now.

Up to a point there is mileage in putting a positive spin on tough times but he has long past that point and too often sounds deluded and helpless.

His judgment has to be called into question if he thinks claiming yet another damaging defeat to Jimmy Thelin’s side on 30 October was one of Rangers’ better performances [4 Lads Had A Dream, 30 October] will do anything but infuriate his own supporters and be mocked by rivals.

And yet indications of the stance behind him at Ibrox are that they not only aren’t ready to make a change imminently [Rangers Review, 31 October] but have already made their peace with the current struggles and will tough out the storm, even if it lasts through next season as well [Tom English, 1 November].

Perhaps that is the sort of tough decision that has to be made in order to have any hope of building their way out of this mess, but it is going to be an absolute ordeal for the foreseeable future if this continues.

In other Rangers news, Clement is not the only prominent figure whose job is now in the firing line at Ibrox.

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