As Rangers tried to get over the bitter disappointment of Premier Sports Cup defeat to Celtic, the loss of Jack Butland against Dundee threatened to add insult to injury.
The ever-present Rangers goalkeeper, 31, was whisked away from Ibrox with his wife entering labour in order to be present at the birth of his third child.
Liam Kelly relished the chance to make his Rangers debut and contributed to a narrow 1-0 victory over the Dee which got the Gers straight back to winning ways.
Philippe Clement has been eager to blame individual mistakes for the club’s Scottish Premiership collapse in the two matches since.
But how the Rangers manager has handled this situation specifically is one major black mark on the Belgian’s stuttering approach this winter.
Jack Butland’s Christmas bottle crashes
Despite the elation of a new child and the chaos of the Christmas schedule, Philippe Clement immediately reinstated Jack Butland against St Mirren.
It’s a decision which was to almost immediately backfire.
Jack Butland rushed out of his goal and was caught in no-man’s land to clatter St Mirren attacker Greg Kiltie and award the Saints a spot kick.
The Rangers goalkeeper also got nowhere near it as Oisin Smyth fired the Paisley side into the lead.
Despite Danilo scoring a second half equaliser, the embarrassment wasn’t to end there either as Caolan Boyd-Munce fired an injury time winner past the goalie.
And it was only part one of a disastrous two matches for the Rangers keeper.
In an excruciating display at Fir Park, Jack Butland’s woeful performance contributed to yet more dropped points as Rangers came back from two down to draw 2-2.
Letting a tame Apostolos Stamatelopoulos shot trickle under him for Motherwell’s opener, Butland was also completely stranded as Tawanda Maswanhise fired the Steelmen two in front.
With Hamza Igamane pulling one back for Rangers, Jack Butland was lucky not to contribute to Rangers going 3-1 behind.
Palming the ball into his own net from a Motherwell corner, VAR correctly adjudged Jack Butland to have been fouled by Tony Watt, much to the anger of Stuart Kettlewell.
But whilst the decision to rule out the goal was correct – just ask Cillian Sheridan – Jack Butland certainly never covered himself in glory as he flapped at the ball.
The nonsense didn’t end there either, with the Rangers goalkeeper almost beaten by a looping Dan Casey header, only for Butland to deflect a rebound out to Tony Watt who tapped home.
Replays showed that Casey was offside and Butland was spared yet more embarrassment.
Poor management from Philippe Clement
These are monumental errors from one of Rangers’ most consistent and important players in Jack Butland.
But there is something to be said for the decision to play the Rangers goalkeeper amid the chaos of Christmas and the player’s wife having a new child.
Liam Kelly is a perfectly capable goalkeeper with a point to prove and Philippe Clement had a big call to make with regards reinstating Jack Butland.
It’s a call that with the benefit of hindsight the Rangers manager got completely wrong.
But it’s something which should not be understated, especially when Clement is insisting that it’s individual mistakes and not his own decision-making which has been the team’s downfall.
Heading into the game with St Mirren, the inclusion of Jack Butland was an immediate red flag with the decision then further compounded by playing the stopper v Motherwell.
Liam Kelly should’ve been given the opportunity to play in these two match with Jack Butland coming back into the side against Celtic.
It would’ve given Liam Kelly the chance to prove his credentials whilst lighting a fire under Jack Butland and ensuring he too had a point to prove in the Old Firm.
Instead, we’re left picking up the pieces of yet another Scottish Premiership title collapse with Jack Butland once again picking the ball out of his own net.
Philippe Clement can pick out individual mistakes as being the root of the issue but we don’t need to remind you that it’s the Belgian who picks the team.
