Chris Sutton has warned Philippe Clement that defeat to Celtic at Ibrox really could be “the end of the road” for the Belgian.
The Rangers boss has yet to register a victory over Brendan Rodgers since his arrival in Govan with his troops losing out at Hampden Park last weekend in the Premier Sports Cup Final. After a thrilling 3-3 draw that went all the way the match was settled on penalties with Kasper Schmeichel the hero after he denied Ridvan Yilmaz with a strong low save.
Record Sport columnist and Hoops hero Sutton concedes that the Light Blues have lifted their performance levels over the past four or five games but failure to put the trophy in the cabinet – which now moves the Hoops ahead of Rangers on 119 puts him under real pressure. They trail Celtic in the Premiership title race by 11 points and failure to win the Old Firm in a couple of weeks could see that gap extended even further. That would realistically only leave the Scottish Cup on the domestic agenda with the men from Glasgow’s east end chasing yet another Treble success.
Speaking on the Daily Mail’s ‘It’s All Kicking Off’ podcast, Sutton said: “Big Phil talked last week about budgets and the fact that Rangers were playing two teams with greater budgets, Tottenham and then Celtic. But he failed to mention that every other week in the Scottish Premiership, Rangers’ budget is considerably bigger than everybody else.
“He’s been in a while now. He hasn’t beaten Brendan Rodgers in six games. It was huge for him (Premier Sports Cup Final) and, if we are being balanced, we can say Rangers can take a fair bit out of the way that they played.
“But still, he needed that trophy and the pressure will be on. In recent times, I will be fair to him, the performance levels in the last four or five games have sort of been there. They pushed Celtic, but Celtic are fighting on all fronts as well and are maybe going through a patch where their form has been patchy and they are playing in moments, but getting over the line was a big deal. I mean a possible Treble for Celtic.
“Rangers now are under pressure. You look at the league table and 11 points the gap. They play each other on January 2, which is huge, it’s at Ibrox. Philippe Clement can’t keep losing to Brendan Rodgers. If he loses that one, I really think it will be the end of the road for him.”