Rangers chairman Fraser Thornton has dropped a major clue that Rangers could stick with Philippe Clement – after rejecting the club would do the “easy thing” and show the boss the door.
The Belgian boss is facing massive pressure after leading the Light Blues to the brink of a trophyless campaign after the humiliating Scottish Cup exit at the hands of Queen’s Park. It came with the club trailing Celtic by 13 points in the Premiership title race while they have already lost out on the Premier Sports Cup to their rivals after penalty shoot-out heartbreak at Hampden. But Thornton has already backed the boss behind closed doors when appearing alongside CEO Patrick Stewart in one of the lounges at Ibrox Stadium during a clash with St Johnstone last month.
He insists Rangers results had been poor for over a decade as he rejected the sacking culture in the leaked clip. He said: “Of course we all know that results have been simply nowhere near good enough. It’s undeniable and well understood. I have to say home has been okay but away is horrendous. Honestly, the easy thing to do would be just to say ‘let’s change the manager and move on’.
“But you know if you really sit back and reflect on it a little bit and you say it’s actually season upon season upon season that the results haven’t been good enough. It’s 10 years. It’s not even one or two years. It’s 10. It’s a decade of underperformance that we’ve got.
“We haven’t managed to have a team that’s been capable of winning week, in week out and challenging domestically. It’s a decade. So it’s not just a managerial thing – there are many other issues at play.
“And with that in mind and under Patrick’s expert guidance we said, ‘Look, we need to take a long hard look at our footballing actives but actually all of our activities, but first of all our football activities, hence the operational review that we announced. So that’s the rationale and the context behind this.”
Stewart also offered support for the manager last month – but admitted there could be no “cast iron” guarantees over his future while insisting that the Belgian’s future would not be dictated by finance. He said: “This isn’t a financially-driven decision.
“To be clear, sticking with Philippe isn’t about trying to avoid a tough decision. In fact, I think if anything, changing a manager would be the easy decision, because a lot of supporters are calling for that. I’m aware of that, I’ve seen the statements.
“If results don’t improve, obviously I can’t give Philippe any cast iron guarantees. He and I have both been around football long enough to know that isn’t the case. Equally, I’m not going to get into how many games does Philippe have to save his job, that’s not what we’re about.
“We’re about helping Philippe to identify why is there the inconsistency and let’s address that. And again, to be clear, sticking with Philippe isn’t about trying to avoid a tough decision.”