Rangers have been radio silent all week only to allow Philippe Clement to face the music in front of the assembled press for the pre-match media duties before the trip to Tynecastle.
The manager couldn’t have had a harder fixture following the last, disastrous, outing against Queen’s Park with a squad that has been battered from pillar to post for most of the season.
Clement could have left Rangers before this season started and he has been in defiant mood despite one of the worst results in the club’s history.
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Philippe Clement has no Rangers departure regrets
Few seasons since 2012 have been as hard to take as this one, a paradox considering Rangers’ top eight finish in the Europa League league phase.
There have been teams that aren’t as capable of producing good football – see the 3-0 win over Celtic and even the 1-1 draw with Spurs – but also of such diabolical lows.
It would have been easy to walk away, however, Clement claims he has no regrets about staying:
“No, no. Otherwise, I would not be here because you can’t step out of the story. No, no. I know,” said the Rangers boss about turning down offers to leave his Ibrox troubles behind.
“I know why I did that decision and it’s because of this synergy with the fans and because I know how great this place can be if you have success, if you win trophies.
“So, there is my hunger, my desire for all of that. So that’s a choice I made before I came compared with other teams who were interested at the moment and it’s still the case here.”
When asked if the Scottish Cup exit was the final straw, the final act?
“That’s what you say.”
Comments that suggest Clement knows better.
Stubborn Clement not doing himself any favours
If, and it’s a big if, Clement is to win back any of the multitude of fans who want him to leave Rangers, he has to make changes.
Yes, his squad is limited and short of options in certain positions, but it still has more than enough to be closer to Celtic and not get humiliated off a lower league side.
Doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results is part of the reason why Rangers are in the mess that they are currently in.
Wingers playing on the ‘wrong’ side, throwing cross, after cross, into a packed penalty area.
Clement always talks about “beating the block” and yet has never came up with a plan to actually do it successfully on a regular basis.
It isn’t about the squad being more consistent, or getting better players in, it’s about those and the manager changing an approach that, on too many occasions, just doesn’t work.
