If Philippe Clement felt that the opening weeks of 2025 represented a big step forward for his Rangers side, then Sunday’s Scottish Cup knockout at the hands of Queens Park was one almighty stumble in the opposite direction.
After thrashing Celtic, cruising past Ross County and Aberdeen, securing their place in the last-16 of the UEFA Europa League, Ibrox appeared to be a far happier place than at the end of 2024.
That was, however, until Seb Drozd fired past Liam Kelly with Queens Park’s only shot of the game, until James Tavernier saw a stoppage time penalty pushed aside by Calum Ferrie.
Until Rangers exited the Scottish Cup – their one realistic remaining hope of silverware this season – at home to a second-tier outfit.
If not the final straw for an always under-pressure Philippe Clement, then it certainly didn’t release the poor camel from the curse of lumbago.
To think, it was hardly a below-strength Rangers’ XI either. Clement started James Tavernier, Robin Propper and Jefte – three regular members of his first-choice back-four – while Mohamed Diomande, Vaclav Cerny, Ianis Hagi, Hamza Igamane and Nedim Bajrami were also included on the team sheet.
On an afternoon where Chelsea’s interest in the ‘dire’ Jefte felt increasingly misplaced, where Diomande and Cerny fell well short of their usual standards, Rangers legend Kris Boyd still felt that one player stood out more than any other.
For all the wrong reasons, mind you.
Kris Boyd hammers Nedim Bajrami as Queens’ Park stun Rangers
Nedim Bajrami was the club’s second-most expensive acquisition last summer, arriving in a deal worth around £3.5 million from Italian outfit Sassuolo. A fee, Boyd argues, would look more suitable if you shifted the decimal point one place to the left, such was the Albanian’s anonymity at home to a team sitting 15 places below Rangers in the Scottish footballing pyramid.
“This whole myth that Rangers haven’t spent money… I mean, it’s incredible,” Boyd fumes. “You look at the money that has been spent.
“The big summer signing, again, nowhere to be seen, Bajrami. I thought [he was] really poor again. Bajrami was signed as the big summer singing.
“He is in and out [of the starting XI] now all the time.”
Bajrami has certainly had his moments since swapping Sassuolo for Scotland.
A silky smooth operator, his creativity and his composure under pressure is a big reason why Rangers find themselves just 180 minutes away from a place in the Europa League quarter-finals. He also scored that late winner against Motherwell in the League Cup semis, and found the net in that thrilling final clash with Celtic.
Yet, on the other hand, a tally of one goal and one assist from 20 Premiership matches is a rather dire return for a man who contributed more even as Sassuolo were relegated from Serie A last season.
Boyd has serious doubts about Philippe Clement now
Thanks in part to the triumphant return of Ianis Hagi, Bajrami has also started only six of the last 13 league matches. In that time, he has been hauled off after just 45 minutes on two occasions.
”When results like this happen, you’re under major pressure,” Boyd adds. ”Philippe Clement has already had a lot of criticism and rightly so in my opinion.
”Thirteen points behind Celtic, out of the Scottish Cup to Queen’s Park at home, lost the League Cup Final to Celtic… Yes Rangers have qualified for the last 16 of the Europa League but domestically, at least when I was growing up, was the be all and end all.
”I don’t think that’ll ever change and Rangers right now have won three trophies out the last 43 available in Scotland. It’s not good enough.”
