Tom English shares Clement sack update from senior Rangers figure this season

Rangers are prepared to lose the next two Scottish Premiership titles to Celtic without sacking Philippe Clement, according to Tom English.

The BBC journalist wrote for the outlet’s website on 1 November that a senior Ibrox figure insisted earlier this season that there would be “no knee-jerk reaction” to bad results no matter how much “heat” came from the fans.

He admits that stance is being put to the test with the Belgian under major pressure in the wake of losing 2-1 at Aberdeen on 30 October, and falling nine points off the pace set by the Dons and the Hoops, but indicated a top person at the club have indicated they were ready to deal with this.

English wrote: “In the dog days of early season, after Dynamo Kyiv had put them out of the Champions League and Celtic had put them to the sword in the Premiership, a senior figure at Rangers spoke about the importance of backing Philippe Clement.

“The gist was this: Clement had proven himself to be a competent manager in his first season and would get the time he needed to rebuild his team, no matter the heat that came from supporters if things got bumpy on the road, no matter if Celtic won the league this season and next.

“There would be no knee-jerk reaction, no continuation of the short-lived spells of Giovanni van Bronckhorst and Michael Beale, no throwing good money after bad in a frenzied pursuit of their city rivals.”

Derek McInnes linked with Rangers job

Sacking a manager is often seen as the nuclear option for a club’s board, but in Glasgow this stance probably amounts to the same in reverse.

Swallowing the pain of a long-term rebuild at the cost of any success on the pitch in the short-term will be extremely unpopular with a fanbase that is already furious with how the season is going.

Derek McInnes arguably sparked the latest round of fury after his Kilmarnock side beat Clement’s Gers 1-0 on 20 October, with the 1-0 loss at Pittodrie 10 days later sending it off the charts, and the Rugby Park boss has emerged as the primary replacement suggestion [Kris Boyd, 31 October].

The “noises coming out of Ibrox” after the latter were that an immediate sacking was not on the cards [Rangers Review, 31 October] despite more and more supporters reaching their limits, which would indicate the stance from earlier this season hasn’t changed.

It has been suggested that the fanbase turning their backs on the current regime could make it impossible not to sack the Belgian [Stephen McGowan, 31 October], such is the financial impact dwindling ticket sales and revenue will cause.

But if the club have already planned to deal with the backlash from the supporters in order to avoid continuing a damaging cycle it may yet get much worse before it gets better.

The Light Blues decision-makers might argue that the next two will end up at Parkhead anyway if they fire another manager, even if, as English details, Clement is in the same territory as Beale, Van Bronckhorst and even Pedro Caixinha when they were dispatched.

On current evidence it looks like a potentially miserable outcome either way, but if the club have already decided they are going to tough it out come hell or high water over the next two seasons it could get extremely uncomfortable in Govan.

In other Rangers news, an Ibrox hero has been put forward as an emergency replacement if offered Clement’s job.

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