'There's a belief internally...' - Journalist issues Clement exit update after latest Rangers resignation

Rangers believe they should keep doing what they are doing and their backing of Philippe Clement isn’t going to change, says Joshua Barrie.

The Rangers Review journalist said on the 10 October Morning Briefing on the outlet’s YouTube channel that news of Creag Robertson’s resignation as director of football operations leaves just three of the original seven members of the football board in place once he goes.

He highlighted how that crumbling set up was an alternative to a sporting director, but suggested that without either there would be difficulties if it was necessary to make another managerial change.

Barrie said (27m 50s): “The argument for having a sporting director is if Philippe Clement was to lose the next five or six games. I don’t think that’s going to happen and we know that the backing for him is really, really strong, especially compared to other managers.

“There’s a belief internally that Rangers need to keep doing the same thing, that they have got the right man at the moment in the manager’s hot seat, and that isn’t going to change.

“But I still think there’s issues with that football board set up in who selects the new manager?”

Rangers back Philippe Clement to remain at Ibrox

The Gers have essentially gone all in on Clement at a time when they probably have little other option but when his reputation at the club has already taken a number of hits since last season.

Arriving last season to stage a remarkable turnaround of Michael Beale’s rapidly sinking ship, the Belgian appeared to have all the answers for the first few months of his reign.

After overhauling Celtic’s lead at the top of the Scottish Premiership while lifting the League Cup it would have seemed a no-brainer for Rangers to end their cycle of hiring at firing with him.

But a worrying drop off towards the end of the season saw the advantage squandered in the league, and a Scottish Cup final defeat to Celtic capped off a major disappointment, while his whole image appears to have suffered since.

A tricky start to the new season and a 3-0 loss in the Old Firm derby, a fixture Clement still hasn’t won, put him under pressure and leaves questions as to whether he is the man to turn things around hanging in the air.

Robertson’s expected exit does add to the argument in favour of the current boss as he has been operating amid chaos at Ibrox, with key figures coming and going around him, nightmare logistical gaffes, and nothing in the way of continuity.

A lack of transfer budget meant he wasn’t able to implement the full overhaul of the squad in the summer and makes it continually hard to judge the direction he is taking this team in.

It now sounds like the club probably wouldn’t know how to sack him if they did have to, but the chances of it happening either way look remote for the foreseeable future.

The club have realised, probably too late, the damage done by changing manager three seasons in a row so have committed to Clement [The Herald, 27 July], but he still needs to show more tactical development and avoid baffling public statements which undermine his credibility to justify the faith shown in him.

In other Rangers news, Tam McManus has slammed Light Blues fans for what happened with an “excellent” forward.

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