It appears that it wasn’t just the fans and the media who started to lose faith in Philippe Clement before the Belgian’s eventual – and inevitable – dismissal following Rangers’ 2-0 home defeat by St Mirren.
As far back as mid-January, the Union Bears fan group where calling for Philippe Clement’s head.
His sacking, they said, had become painfully ‘necessary’. To think, Clement would then last another five weeks, surviving a humiliating Scottish Cup exit at the hands of second-tier Queen’s Park before Stephen Robinson and St Mirren hammered the final nail into his proverbial coffin.
Large sections of the Rangers supporting media had given up hope of closing the gap to Celtic at the Scottish summit long before then. Kris Boyd said Philippe Clement was ‘done’ over a month prior to the Ibrox board finally pulling the trigger.
Billy Dodds, part of Barry Ferguson’s new-look interim coaching staff, took aim at a dismal away record meanwhile after the insipid 1-1 draw at Dundee early in 2025.
But, according to Rangers Review, questions started to arise within the dressing room itself when Clement failed to engineer a victory over the other Dundee outfit back in November of last year.
Rangers players were baffled by Philippe Clement’s Hamza Igamane decision
Dundee United secured a 1-1 result at Ibrox that day. The Premiership’s top scorer Sam Dalby opened the scoring and, while Vaclav Cerny’s equaliser just past the hour mark had the home fans confident briefly in a come-from-behind win, one would not be forthcoming.
Substitute Hamza Igamane came as close as anyone. His rasping drive from the edge of the box forced visiting goalkeeper Jack Walton into a flying save.
But it was reportedly Clement’s usage of Igamane during another highly-underwhelming Ibrox display which caused ‘contention’ behind the scenes amongst the playing staff.
Clement introduced Igamane not up front – in his favoured number nine role – but instead on the left-hand side of his midfield. Danilo remained through the centre on his ow.
And, according to Rangers Review, members of the squad felt that Rangers would have benefitted more from a change of system. Perhaps with Igamane joining Danilo up top against a Dundee United team happy to hang onto a point.
Just a few days later, Igamane would lead the line away to Nice in the Europa League as the summer signing from Morocco finally announced himself as a Rangers player with two goals in a thrilling 4-1 victory.
That would kick-start a run of 12 goals from 14 appearances.
Yet, in the eyes of many critics, a decent spell of form leading up to Christmas and early into 2025 was almost despite Philippe Clement rather than because of him. Rangers still looked like a side reliant upon moments of individual magic rather than one capable of opening up deep-lying defences with pre-planned moves and training pitch solutions.
Low-block issues cost Clement as Russell Martin tipped for Ibrox return
When you have got the likes of Igamane, Cyriel Dessers, Vaclav Cerny and Ianis Hagi at your disposal, the chances are that you will always have enough to edge past Ross County and St Johnstone.
It is fitting, really, that St Mirren’s Ibrox triumph – the first time The Buddies had won successive league games over Rangers since 1980 – proved to be the final straw for Philippe Clement in Glasgow. It was a performance the fans had seen umpteen times before.
A team dominating possession, shooting from range yet, after falling behind, ultimately clueless as how to pick the lock.
That is part of the reason why Andy Halliday wants Rangers to appoint former Southampton boss Russell Martin as Clement’s full-time successor when Barry Ferguson’s interim spell comes to an end.
“I have seen Russell Martin is linked. That’s one that divides opinion but I think he’d be a good appointment,” Halliday says, the one-time Ibrox defender making Southampton the best possession team in England’s second tier last season but also one capable of carving out plenty of opportunities against teams sitting deep.
“You are talking about style of football. You are talking about styles and how to break down opponents. [Martin] has shown thats kind of what he’s best at.
“If you’ve got investors coming in who are going to back him as well…”
