Rinse and repeat and on they go. Another campaign crumbling, another manager hung out to dry with Rangers trapped in a mess of their own making.
It’s coming up on seven months since former chairman John Bennett vowed to put an end to the relentless cycle of hiring and firing at Ibrox. Well he’s now long gone … with Philippe Clement ushered out the door too. The big Belgian undoubtedly contributed to his own downfall. The Ibrox fan base had long grown weary listening to the 50-year-old former Brugge and Monaco boss and his flimsy, bizarre excuses cobbled together while attempting to defend one costly defeat to Celtic after another.
When those cack-handed comments were combined with the dwindling performance levels of an increasingly tedious, one-paced outfit, well then there really was no way back for him in the minds of a seething support base. But then what chance did Clement ever really stand of rebuilding Rangers when those above him had done so much to damage the foundations he was trying to put in place?
Clement wasn’t the man who dished out thousands of pounds a week to high-earning flops like Rabbi Matondo, Ben Davies, Sam Lammers and Todd Cantwell. It was him who forgot to order the steel shipment from China before the builders moved in to renovate the Copland Road stand.
And he wasn’t sitting at the negotiating table when Gers signed off on five deals over the summer that raked in a measly £800,000 in net transfer revenue as the club were effectively forced to pay off the likes of Cantwell and Connor Goldson in a desperate bid to get them to leave. But Clement was certainly the one left counting the cost of those expensive mistakes.
Patrick Stewart wasn’t the man responsible either. But the new CEO might find that his own position comes under some serious scrutiny now, just three months after taking up his post.
With the money men from the San Francisco 49ers preparing an Ibrox takeover, it’s unclear what – if any – the former Manchester United exec’s role will be under the new regime. But if it’s decisive leadership they’re after, it’s hard to look at Stewart’s contribution so far and conclude he’s hit the mark.
Yes he’s instigated a review of the club’s football operation but that will take weeks yet to reach its judgement on where Rangers have been going wrong for so long. It’s an important piece of work which rightly should not be rushed.
But there was low-hanging fruit for Stewart to pick at – chiefly replacing the manager. Of course the Ibrox board were desperate to end the days of rise and repeat, hiring and firing. But keeping Clement only muddied a situation desperately calling out for clear, concise thinking.
The former Manchester United exec’s first day at work on December 16 came just three weeks after senior club figures were forced to shoot down wild WhatsApp rumours swirling round Glasgow that claimed Clement was to be binned after a 1-1 draw at home to Dundee United, a result which left Gers 11 points behind Celtic in the title race.
The decision to show faith in the boss sparked a furious backlash from fans who’d already have had enough even then. So Stewart should have known what he’d be in for when he dished out two more votes of confidence little more than a month apart.
The second one of those came just last Wednesday – a full 10 days after Clement had overseen one of the worst results in the club’s 153-year history as they crashed out of the Scottish Cup to Championship also-rans Queen’s Park. After more than a week of eerie silence, the shell-shocked chief exec finally dared to put his head above the parapet to claim he “did not want to take a step that would put further progress in the Europa League at risk”.
He was finally forced to act after Saturday’s St Mirren shocker – but even that begs the question: what chance do Rangers now stand of getting past Jose Mourinho’s Fenerbahce with an interim boss flung in at the deep end with only 10 days to get to grips with the squad before they head to Istanbul? You don’t need to answer that.
Perhaps had Stewart taken a bold stance when Clement’s side blew any lingering hopes of mounting a fight for the title this season with four disastrous results on the road either side of January’s long-awaited Old Firm victory, Rangers might not have sleepwalked into their catastrophic Queen’s disaster and they might still have something to play for this season.
As it stands, unless Rangers can somehow find a way to get past a team led by one of the greatest managers of all time, they face a three month trudge through 11 dead rubbers before they can finally consign another torturous season to the history books. Barry Ferguson will oversee the remainder of this term’s games alongside recently appointed assistant coach Issame Charai and legendary mates Neil McCann, Billy Dodds and Allan McGregor.
Anyone who has read Barry’s column in Record Sport down the years will know the passion the former skipper has for the club. If only the current incumbents of the dressing room had an ounce of the desire and determination that Barry showed while wearing the armband they may not have ended up responsible for seeing yet another manager off the premises.
As for Stewart and the board, with Clement gone there is no-one now to hide behind. Of course the hunt for a new permanent boss will begin, along with the sporting director Stewart revealed the club are set to appoint.
But if a group of directors who have overseen a decade in which Celtic have won 20 trophies – likely to soon be 22 – wish to salvage anything close to a legacy in the eyes of the Rangers support, there is one far bigger deal they must get right and that is the handover of power to Paraag Marathe and his 49ers group. Botch that and there will be no way of rinsing clean their reputations.