A furious Kris Boyd has cast his doubt on Rangers‘ decision to give under-fire manager Philippe Clement a vote of confidence – and has given his opinion on what should happen were the Belgian to be sacked.
New CEO Patrick Stewart publicly came out on Saturday to give the board’s backing to Clement, but also warned that he is not afraid to make the big calls if and when required. The former Manchester United executive has also confirmed that the club plan to back the Belgian in the January transfer window, with Rangers in desperate need of some defensive cover with several players currently out of action.
However, Boyd insists he has seen nothing to suggest that Clement is the right man to take the Gers forward, describing them as ‘broken’. Thursday night’s 1-1 draw at Dundee has left the Gers trailing league leaders Celtic by 18 points. It also continued the Light Blues miserable record on the road this season, with just 13 points picked up from the 33 available.
Speaking alongside Chris Sutton on Sky Sports following Celtic’s 4-1 win against Ross County, he said: “When you look at everything that’s going on right now, the away form is alarming, there’s no doubt about that. Rangers have got three home games, you’d expect them to win them. You go back to the Celtic game – that papered over the cracks.
“Rangers won the two games leading up to the Old Firm game and then all of a sudden you go and put in the two performances you do after that. I don’t think anybody is going to be naive enough to think that everything is rosey again if Rangers are to get six points and progress into the next round of the Scottish Cup from their next three home games.
“When you look at the away fixtures coming up after that; Man United, Dundee United, Hearts, Kilmarnock, Celtic, Dundee, Aberdeen – they are going to be difficult games. Patrick Stewart has spoken about a root and branch review of the football department that’s going to take six to 12 weeks…”
Hoops legend Sutton then posed Boyd a question, asking: “Is that a cop out? He’s been in a couple of weeks now, what he’s trying to do is buy himself time. But in all honesty, Rangers fans would have liked him to have been more decisive.”
Boyd then replied: “The performances that Rangers have put in, especially away from home, have been terrible. Not even I can sit here and try and gloss that up – it’s embarrassing to be honest. The next week at home, I get the feeling that… if the fans don’t turn up for the Fraserburgh game, the next two are on the season book but when it goes to Fraserburgh, that will be interesting to see what the attendance is. You look at a lot of statements that have come out, the Rangers fans have had enough.
“They feel as if they’ve backed the club that much over the recent years that they’re being short-changed right now from performances on the pitch and I can’t disagree with them. You can’t keep changing the manager, but you have to until you get the right one.
“As it stands right now, there’s nothing to suggest that Philippe Clement is the right one. Rangers look broken, there’s no doubt about that. You then look at it going forward, I agree you can’t keep chopping and changing midway through a season, but then maybe give someone an interim from now until the end of the season and then look at it. But that’s not going to be the case. He’s been backed and if he gets results then it will take him to the summer anyway.”
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