Philippe Clement, Rangers badgeRangers manager Philippe Clement took over from Michael Beale in October 2023
Philippe Clement job security doubted at Rangers, huge Celtic claim issued with jury still out
Philippe Clement took over a poor quality Rangers squad from Michael Beale but the jury remains out on the Ibrox boss after a year, says Tam McManus.
The pundit assessed the Belgian’s first 12 months in charge on PLZ Soccer on 14 October, highlighting the lack of a win in the Old Firm derby as a key hurdle he still hasn’t cleared which is holding him back, and doubts whether he’ll get the time he needs.
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He acknowledged a lot of the process that has been undertaken to address the playing staff that was left behind by the previous manager, but the Celtic issue looms large ahead of a “huge” next meeting in the New Year.
McManus said (48m 55s): “He inherited a bit of a pig’s ear of a squad to be honest, I think Michael Beale, the players that he brought in just weren’t good enough.
“He’s come in with a remit of, ‘Listen, we’ve got to get players out. We’ve got to reduce the wage bill drastically.’
“He’s got rid of a lot of big hitters. A lot of big money has went out of Rangers and they’ve signed cheaper players which was obviously on his remit as well.
“The tail end of last season was a real opportunity to win the league and they didn’t do that, and until he beats Celtic in a big game, until he proves he can win a big game of football against Celtic, I think the jury’s always going to be out on him. They’ve got a huge game coming up against Celtic in January, they’ve got to keep winning until then.
“He needs another couple of windows to get where he wants to be, but second’s nowhere in Glasgow, so will he get the time to see that out? I don’t know.”
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Rangers yet to beat Celtic under Philippe Clement
The Clement reign can effectively be split into first and second acts already and the difference between the two is night and day.
The first few months in charge he appeared to be a serious operator who genuinely had all the answers to address the malaise at Ibrox, as he lifted performances, won a trophy, and even managed to overhaul Brendan Rodgers’ lead in the title race.
But that momentum stalled badly around the controversial, twice-postponed trip to Dens Park, and Clement has arguably never quite recovered, as the form fell off a cliff, the title was ceded back to Celtic and the Scottish Cup was also lost in excruciating fashion to the Hoops in the final.
Even as the transfer window approached there was a feeling that if the manager just had the right tools to work with he knew what to do, but after a summer where he was only able to get some of those tools he has also lost that air of authority.
Even Beale managed to win one Old Firm, albeit the dead rubber after the title was gone, but after five attempts Clement has arguably been getting further away from his first victory.
The Ibrox hierarchy, or what’s left of it, has already made the decision to stick with the 50-year-old through a difficult campaign after a damaging cycle of hiring and firing [The Herald, 27 July], and the early stages of a root and branch overhaul of the mess that has built up was always likely to be painful.
If Clement could secure a derby win, avoid making too many excuses in interviews, and show signs of addressing an open midfield in big games then even a lack of trophy success for a while might be tolerable.
But with every instance of those three issues the faith that has been shown in him will, rightly or wrongly, be questioned even louder.
In other Rangers news, the Light Blues are expected to encounter a multimillion pound fee to sign transfer target Lennon Miller.
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