And so it begins again – a new manager hunt leading to a new broom in the dressing room. Coaches moved out, coaches moved in, players exiting, others arriving, compensation, a new style of football, a fresh start. Another one.
Clement bites the dust after Saturday’s pitiful home loss to St Mirren following on from the mortifying Scottish Cup exit to Queen’s Park, which came uncomfortably soon after dropped points against Dundee, Hibernian and Motherwell, which was just three days after, well, a defeat by St Mirren.
Even those who presented boardroom insecurity, downsizing, poor recruitment and a mentally weak dressing room as a nuanced defence of Clement ran out of road.
There is no comeback to some of the performances of late. No manager was likely to survive all those domestic losses and draws, even if there is a lot more to Clement’s failure than just Clement.
The new manager will have to pick up the debris. He has a dressing room of doubtful character, players who can deliver against better opposition in Europe – when there’s no pressure and the game is open – while lacking the steel to see off weaker teams at home, when they have to win in a dogfight.
Put simply, they can’t be trusted.
Clement had big issues in plotting against domestic opponents who sat in all day, but to lay the blame solely at his door would be to give his fragile players – many on chunky salaries – a pass they do not deserve.
Good players can problem-solve on the hoof. Frail ones look to the manager to do it for them. The Rangers dressing room has too many followers and nowhere near enough leaders. You would not want many of them in the trenches with you.
It remains to be seen how many of them the new manager actually wants. No regime change comes cheap.
As the lawyers go through the process of the club potentially changing hands, Rangers are locked in a vicious cycle. Managers come and go, but everything else stays the same.
