When Philippe Clement first walked into the job at Rangers, he must have wondered what all the fuss was about.
The manager took his shambles of a squad to the top of the Scottish Premiership in a matter of months and looked set to bring more silverware back to the Ibrox trophy cabinet after landing the league cup at his first attempt.
In the 12 months since, things have gone from bad to worse with Clement now going against his word and his principles in a desperate act to save his job at Rangers.
Philippe Clement was wrong to hook Bailey Rice
By not replacing Kieran Dowell and Rabbi Matondo, the Gers boss was always going to have to turn to the academy for the rest of the season.
With Connor Barron injured too, Bailey Rice has been promoted to third choice behind Nicolas Raskin and Mohamed Diomande and given the chance to show what he can do.
At 18-years old he still has a lot to learn, however, what he didn’t deserve, was to be hooked at half-time with his team drawing against Queen’s Park, with Michael Stewart branding the decision ‘deplorable’.
Rice might have had a quiet opening period, but he did little wrong too.
The forward line was static and the ball kept getting moved from side-to-side, usually by the centre-halves behind him.
What Clement should have done, is give Rice a chance, tell him to get on the ball, dictate the play and make things happen.
Now, it looks like his manager doesn’t trust him.
Like it was a token gesture against a team Rangers should have beaten comfortably.
Does Clement really believe in youth being the future?
The same applies for Findlay Curtis too, who had to watch as a defender was sent on to save the game instead of playing a winger in his natural position.
Curtis, who has just signed a new long-term contract, has already proven that he can spot a pass a split a defence in the previous round, and yet he stayed on the bench.
Clement can’t keep expecting the same players to go to the well every week, some of them already look like they are running on fumes.
These are the cards that the Belgian has been dealt with, if he doesn’t like them, he doesn’t have to stick around.
