Clement questions remain, but the manager is being sold short by the board

Meet the new team. Same as the old team. 

Rangers opened their league campaign with the same disjointed performance that typified the finale of the previous season, serving as a timely reminder that despite John Bennett’s interview and Philippe Clement’s new contract, the thing that actually matters the most – the team – is not ready. 

The mood music coming from Ibrox might have portrayed unity and alignment but that melody is in contrast to the groans that emanated from the stand at Tynecastle and from living rooms throughout the country. And after a summer of inactivity and incompetence, it’s little wonder fans weren’t overly enthused. 

Only one new face graced our starting eleven and given the rebuild that was clearly required and acknowledged openly by the manager, that’s simply not good enough. Sure I’m confident that this won’t be the case come 1^st September however between now and then we have a league to contend and European qualifiers to navigate. We can’t be sitting here saying that it has all been too little, too late. 

Saturday’s performance raised further questions over the manager given the apparent lack of identity, shape or style. While he was thrown in at the deep end upon taking the job, he has now had a full pre-season to implement his ideas and vision for the team and with players who have been here all along. Whatever that vision is, it wasn’t apparent as we started the season by dropping points. 

And while that will raise eyebrows in the context of his new contract, a decision that seems more about the optics than the underlying reality, there is one important factor which I will make in his defence – put simply, he has been sold down the river with the squad he has been asked to lead into this campaign. 

It is not good enough that after our poorest league finish in 5 years that we started with only one new signing in the team. It is not good enough that the manager is being asked to compete with a superior rival with one hand tied firmly behind his back. And it is not good enough that fans are being asked to accept this reality because of persistent mistakes made in the Blue Room over a period of years. 

Two consecutive summer windows have been disastrous not just in terms of the regression they have triggered on the pitch but because their impact has constrained our financial situation to the point that means we are very much in the ‘buy to sell’ mode that has delayed our summer activity. 

Make no mistake, this is our poorest squad since Steven Gerrard’s first-season and even then he had several players who would walk into this team in an instant. Given the exorbitant increase in wages and transfer fees since then, that’s a sad indictment of how poorly we have been run as a football club recently. The faces have changed but the errors have continued. 

Philippe Clement may or not be “the man” despite the show of faith from the board – that’s a topic for another article – however any manager in his current position is being set up to fail. I believe the Belgian has the character and mentality to succeed at Rangers but, as mentioned above, the real question is whether he can coach the team to the levels required. But we can have all the structure and style we want however if we have more games  where Matondo, Dessers and Wright are the front-three we won’t be competing for titles anytime soon. Clement is therefore being let down by those above him. 

Rangers are now very much in project mode, perhaps even as far back as when Gerrard stepped through the door. We have to address a ballooning wage bill and cut costs while seeking to improve the team. We’ve seen a shift in recruitment with many younger players being targeted, some of whom aren’t near ready for regular first-team football. But this is Rangers, and patience isn’t a virtue, it’s a myth. 

Robin Propper will replace Connor Goldson at the heart of the defence, likely in the place of Ben Davies who was hooked at the weekend. But it’s nowhere near enough. We are short of options in central midfield, don’t have a No10 that makes the position worth having and have no striker that can be relied upon over the course of a season. These are enormous gaps. 

We must move on the likes of Hagi and Cantwell as quickly as we can and get those funds reinvested. We’ve seen in the past the benefit of bringing in players for a full pre-season however any further additions will be thrown in at the deep end and asked to perform, and we don’t have a proven record of that happening. With the manager also saying we will improve going into October and November, he better hope we’ve got enough to play for by then because his predecessors didn’t make it that far. 

Regardless of any perceived or potential shortcomings as a coach, I feel sorry for the manager. He came in and took a job when many others wouldn’t touch it and with his initial impact saved the board from an entire season of protests and toxicity. But his reward for this is being asked to perform miracles. And that’s not fair. 

While in the bubble of Ibrox the emphasised alignment might see a relative comfort on both sides – the board are confident that the manager understands the situation and the manager knows that the board are “all-in” with him – it won’t matter if the fans aren’t taken on that journey and bought into the project. 

It was that buy-in that saved Gerrard and eventually saw him win a league title. The support could see progression and see that the board were backing gradual improvement. But after two or more years of regression, patience is wearing thin and being asked to park all ambition and expectation for another rebuild is a very difficult sell. 

Any Rangers manager deserves the backing of the board and the tools to succeed. In this case however Philippe Clement is being sent with a knife into a gun fight. John Bennett and Co simply must increase his weaponry if we are to have any chance of anything resembling success this season. Anything less is a dereliction of duty.