Clement 66 points, Beale 65: Rangers managers’ league records compared | OneFootball

We’ll admit it categorically – we do have significant concerns about Rangers manager Philippe Clement’s ability to bring any further silverware to Ibrox.

See, we’ve covered this topic tentatively in recent weeks, showing concern over his collapse at Monaco (lost out on European spot and third from a winning position) when pressure was truly on, and offering caution over him recently claiming the pressure at Brugge is the same as at Rangers.

The big thing some fans use in his favour is to unflatteringly compare the dismal Michael Beale and Rangers under him with Rangers’ current manager. ‘Would you want Beale back?’

The big problem is Beale’s league impact on Rangers was almost identical:

27 matches, 21W, 4 losses, 2 draws.

Clement?

27 matches, 21W, 3 losses, 3 draws.

In Clement’s first 27 league matches (up till present day), he has one less loss and one extra draw than his predecessor’s initial record.

Beale’s record goes from the end of the season to the start of the next (began his Rangers season a bit later), but if it wasn’t for losing to Celtic in the cup final Beale would be equal on that particular silverware. Clement didn’t face them.

An issue we have is giving the man money.

He spent (or his scouts and management spent) £45M last summer on Monaco, and they crashed in the final 7 matches under him. They missed out on Europe. Coping under pressure is questionable under Clement. We saw how badly he’s been struggling at Ibrox in the last 6+ weeks as the results have crumbled.

So this manager, who signed or endorsed Fabio Silva, is to be trusted with big money in the summer? He even said the only reason Silva wasn’t signed permanently was he’s too expensive. A massive bullet dodged there.

We’re still not completely sold on Diomande either, and Clement managed to get the brilliant-looking Oscar Cortes injured 3 minutes after signing him.

What the fans who say ‘let him get his own team then judge him’ actually mean is ‘I trust his judgement in the market and he will prove you wrong’. Which we’d be delighted with.

We don’t trust Clement like we did. So much of the trust he’d built with us (and there was a lot) was broken against Celtic, when he made yet more of the same errors then claimed a moral victory with a draw. He’s spoken so poorly the past 6 weeks.

But this article isn’t really about that, much of which is subjective and a bit of a rant – what isn’t subjective is the points.

They are basically literally identical:

Beale won 65 points, Clement has won 66 points in the first 27 league matches thus far.

A lot of fans will point to the fact we’re still in the league hunt come April, and both managers did take over similar deficits – Clement was 7 behind, Beale 9. But one was up against the Angie machine which barely dropped a point and the other is facing Brenda’s inconsistent Celtic which has spat points out left right and centre. Indeed, Rangers got into a winning league position because of that then choked.

Are we saying sack Clement?

Nope, we’re not saying anything. A lot of folk have accused us of asking for his head, but it’s just not true. We are simply presenting the facts as they are.

We want him to learn from past errors and just ‘click’ with Rangers. Can anyone deny how poor the football has been under Clement? Can anyone deny how much it’s floundered and how much luck helped us get so many of those wins?

We are immensely wary of Clement, of his attitude, of his mental fortitude, and of the things he says now. Apparently he was impressed with Rangers’ ‘resilience, mentality, and hunger’ on Sunday – things fans really didn’t see much of…

All we want is to be proven wrong and Rangers to win stuff.

We want to be back on the Clement train 100% committed and trusting of him.

And that’s up to him to achieve that.