The general consensus seems to be that the jury is out on Philippe Clement as Rangers manager.
The big Belgian came in last season and had an admirable and immediate impact, dragging the club back into a title race from what had seemed an impossible position after the Michael Beale disaster at the start of the campaign.
There was of course a collapse at a crucial juncture to allow Celtic to take the title once again but Clement was the main reason for the title even still being a possibility at that stage, so definitely had credit in the bank.
Now though, some fans are unsure. The squad isn’t looking all the much better after what was supposed to be a big summer and some of the performances, domestically and in Europe, have been unconvincing.
Philippe Clement inherited ‘pig’s ear’ Rangers squad from Michael Beale
It is fair to say Clement is under a bit of pressure, however slight, certainly in comparison to last season.
How much patience should he be afforded. Tam McManus seems to think plenty, although he’s not sure if he actually will.
The pundit told PLZ Soccer: “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.”
How much credit does Clement have in the bank?
It is fair to say Clement DID inherit a poor Rangers squad from Beale, with under performers like Sam Lammers.
And he did go on to get more out of them than his predecessor was.
At what point thogugh will he start to come under the same pressure as Beale and Gio van Bronckhorst before him. A tough one, but the Belgian will surely continue to get more time for now.
