View: John Bennett got Rangers manager call wrong, 51y/o was 'devastated' to miss out

Rangers have endured a poor start to the 2024/25 season as the club find themselves fourth in the Scottish Premiership.

The summer transfer window was expected to be the start of a new Rangers era with a rebuild set to take place, yet again.

It started off strong with ageing players on big wages such as John Lundstram and Borna Barisic being axed upon the expiry of their contracts.

However, when the arrivals started to come in, fans were left somewhat underwhelmed.

Although the form can’t be solely based on Philippe Clement’s performance, it’s up to him to pick the right team and tactics to win games.

This hasn’t happened so far and his side sit five points off the summit after only four games, with things hitting boiling point after the 3-0 loss at Celtic.

This has understandably sparked rumours about the future of Clement [Chris Sutton, 3 September] despite his recent contract extension.

However, before he was hired, former Rangers man John Muscat was also touted to be interested in the hot seat but he was overlooked after interviews.

Craig Moore recently went as far as to share that the 51-year-old was “devastated” to have missed out on the job and that now the ship has “well and truly” sailed in terms of a return to Scotland.

Kevin Muscat would have been the right choice for Rangers

Alongside his poor run of form against Celtic, Clement now seems to be making excuses each week as to why Rangers haven’t won their games, picking out possession numbers at Parkhead embarrassingly.

Not only because of the Old Firm game but after being knocked out of the Champions League and drawing to Hearts on the opening day of the season, the pressure is starting to build for Clement.

Despite knowing the club now, when he first arrived in Glasgow he didn’t know much, if anything, about the fans or culture whereas, Muscat would have done.

The Australian had a year-long stint at Ibrox during his playing career and would’ve known exactly what the club was about having played in the Old Firm.

Even at first glance, it looks as though John Bennett simply could have got it wrong again, just as those in charge did with Michael Beale.

He also seems like a no-nonsense figure who wouldn’t take failure as an option, who would have also demanded the best from his side and only demanded success.

It’s also likely that he would have attacked the transfer window differently and perhaps not splashed the cash on players who aren’t yet first-team ready, with the Australian and Asian markets proving very successful in Scotland.

At the end of the day, it’s all ifs, buts and maybes but it feels like at the time of Clement’s arrival, Bennett made the wrong choice.

In other Rangers news, their game against St. Johnston is set to be rescheduled.

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