Raging Kris Boyd insists that time is up for Philippe Clement as Celtic hero Chris Sutton stuck the boot in on the Rangers boss.
It was more misery for Clement at Pittodrie as he watched his side slump nine points behind Jimmy Thelin’s flying Dons in the Granite City thanks to substitute Shayden Morris second half strike. Nicky Devlin had given the home side the lead in the first half – and things could have been worse had Jamie McGrath not fluffed his lines from the penalty spot – before Nedim Bajrami netted a second half leveller.
But it was the Aberdeen fans partying at the full-time whistle – with the home stands serenading the Belgian boss with chants of “you’re getting sacked in the morning”. And Boyd ended up agreeing with the Pittodrie punters after a heated tirade. Speaking following Clement’s post-match interview where he insisted that the defeat had been one of Rangers best performances this season, asked if he and the fans would agree with that Boyd said: “No, again it’s just excuses.
“The longer the interview went on the more excuses were coming out. Whatever you want to speak about the result is all that matters. Another big game, what is that you have lost three of your opening 10? Drew one as well. It’s not good enough. You speak about improvement, I don’t see it.
“Aberdeen have recruited and built this squad with less than £2m and lost their best player. Lost their best player. Rangers have spent an absolute fortune and they are worse in every position. They have downgraded in every single position, and this whole thing of kicking the can down the street – we were told that Rangers would be 200-300 per cent better come October/November. Woah…”
Sutton cut in: “It’s not embarrassing the interview, well…it is embarrassing but it’s more delusion. I mean, what is he talking about?” Pundit and ex-Dons goalkeeper Joe Lewis added: ‘If I’m a Rangers fan that is the most worrying thing I have seen today.”
Boyd interjected: “Even the Rangers with bule-tinted glasses can see through this now. This ain’t working. You can understand if there are players getting better, but Aberdeen deserved to win tonight. Hearts 0-0 at the start of the season, Kilmarnock deserved to win against Rangers as well – the budgets are absolutely nowhere near Rangers. Even if you are downgrading and cutting back, it’s a will to go and win a game of football and Rangers are severely lacking in that.”
Celtic hero Sutton asked: “The question is Kris, do you trust him? Some of his behaviour and stuff he has said all season has been erratic. Like getting the bunting out for beating Ross County 6-0, going back to Ibrox after they had their pants pulled down by Celtic and saying ‘we had as many shots as Celtic’, doing the can-can in press conferences, and then you have to listen to that. He is talking about the next transfer window, would you really trust him to sign anybody in January? The biggest question is why did Rangers let this guy sign a new contract on the eve of the season? It then lets this guy have all the power.”
Boyd went on: “I think the new contract was all about perception because everybody was against Rangers saying we are backing our manager. The termination clause will be the same, it just looks better. For me anyway, Philippe Clement will be the man who fronts up right now, but Ross Wilson got a lock of stick for his recruitment but what is Nils Koppen doing? He was a scout at PSV. A scout. And now he is heading up one of the biggest clubs in Europe under pressure to get players in.
“For me, there is nothing to suggest in this transfer window Rangers will bring in better players, because the recruitment for a number of years now has been miles off it. In terms of the budget, blame cut backs all you want but there is still money being spent. Diomande cost £4m, Jefte £1m, Cortes who they need to buy who we have hardly seen Igamane – a project £1.75m – the list goes on. Somebody needs to get a grip of it.”
Sutton rounded off: “You say get a grip of it, what needs to happen? Does Philippe Clement need to go?”
Boyd conceded: “We know how football works and yeah, for me now, yes. He does. “
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