Clement thought he had leeway with Rangers fans but Celtic can leave boss in untenable position after being sold a pup

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Philippe Clement might be many things.

Stubborn, certainly. Single-minded, definitely. Maybe even a bit naive, when it comes to understanding Rangers and the Old Firm rivalry in this city. But one thing’s for sure. He’s not daft. So at 5pm today, if Celtic have left Ibrox after plundering yet another victory against his team - the Belgian himself will know his time in Glasgow is up. If you’re managing one of these clubs at ANY time in their history and fall 17 points adrift of the other, your position is untenable.

When you throw in a failure to win any of your first seven derbies as gaffer, it’s impossible to see a way back. And when your side simply can’t get a result away from home in the Scottish Premiership - any case for the defence disintegrates. Clement has enough experience and is long enough in the tooth to accept that.

So he’ll expect the inevitable call from Rangers’ new CEO Patrick Stewart, who will be forced into his first big decision in the job. And rarely has an Old Firm boss contributed to their own downfall as much as Clement. Let’s get one thing straight. In the summer, HE could have justifiably chucked it and left the club in the lurch.

After all, he’d been sold a pup by the Ibrox board. When things had gone pear-shaped, finances were running dry - and millions of pounds worth of talent walked out the door for zilch - they moved the goalposts on their manager.

At that point, no-one could have blamed Clement for telling them where to stick their job. It’s to his credit that he didn’t. You can’t say he hasn’t got a bit of grit and determination about him.

But what that also did was allow Clement to think he had leeway with supporters. And that just doesn’t exist in this environment – not even without captain James Tavernier and No.1 Jack Butland ruled out.

The minute he started calling his new-look squad a ‘project’, the writing was on the wall for him. When he told the media and fans that his team would only start to properly gel in November, he effectively wrote off an entire campaign and gifted Celtic four-in-a-row.

That’s unacceptable for any Rangers gaffer. Of course, budgets were cut and they had to go down a different recruitment route having failed so miserably on that score before. But Rangers or Celtic can NEVER be a project.

This is a club that was champions just three years ago. In 2022 they were in a European final. But now, punters are being told to suck up a 14-point deficit in the league because they’ll eventually get better?

They were never going to buy it. Seven years ago, Rangers had just come up through the divisions after teetering with oblivion.

When Mark Warburton’s side lost the 2016 Hogmanay derby at Ibrox, they fell 19 points behind Celtic. It was their first season back in the top flight. That squad had the likes of Rob Kiernan, Lee Hodson and Joe Dodoo in it. Against a Rodgers outfit boasting talent like Scott Brown, Callum McGregor, Moussa Dembele and Scott Sinclair.

Yet even THAT was unpalatable for Rangers. Their points total back then was roughly the same as Clement has now - and Warburton was away a month later.

That’s the level of demand here that the Belgian has struggled to cope with from the moment they threw away their lead in the title race last season. And he hasn’t helped himself, especially this term.

When he left Vaclav Cerny out of his team at Hampden against Dinamo Kiev in a vital Champions League qualifier on the advice of sports science, it was a major red flag. A potential £40 million jackpot was lost off the back of it, as Rangers went out with a whimper.

To think that four months on, at Fir Park on Sunday, Clement allowed the same thing to happen is mind-blowing. The best managers in the world make mistakes.

But they learn from them and ensure they aren’t repeated in the future. Rangers had just one shot at hauling themselves back into a title race.

By beating St Mirren and Motherwell away from home and defeating Celtic in Govan this afternoon - they’d have moved to within six points of the leaders. All of a sudden, he’d have broken his Old Firm hoodoo and put the first seeds of doubt into Rodgers’ side.

So he HAD to go full throttle with his strongest possible starting 11 in all three games. Instead, he decided to rest Nico Raskin - his best player recently - in Paisley and lost.

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Then he benched Cerny and Hamza Igamane at the weekend when he thought Kieran Dowell and Cyriel Dessers would dig out a result for him. As if. By the end, they were left frantically trying to salvage a draw in Lanarkshire.

The most damning indictment for any gaffer is when the man in the street knows what’s going to happen and he doesn’t. That was the case on Sunday. As soon as Clement’s team-sheet dropped, every Rangers supporter could predict the outcome. But he couldn’t.

He won’t be so blinded today if the result doesn’t go his way. Fans will turn up at Ibrox baying for blood. Celtic arrive knowing victory will clinch the title in January.

You could argue, even if Clement’s side manage to muster a derby win, Stewart and Co will STILL have a big call to make. But a loss will undoubtedly leave Rangers looking for another manager. And not even Clement won’t see that coming.

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