Philippe Clement appears to ‘concede’ the title for Rangers

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Ibrox Noise

·3 August 2024

Philippe Clement appears to ‘concede’ the title for Rangers

Philippe Clement has/had effectively conceded the title in 24/25 before a ball was even kicked, by claiming in the past 24 hours that it would take ‘some months’ before the Rangers team he was building was half decent, the transition taking ‘a little bit more time’, strongly implying that there would be plenty dropped points before then.

He further added that the squad he has now is no better than last season’s but stopped short of outright saying it’s worse, which it’s patently clear to see that it is.

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He was speaking prior to the opening day dropping of points at Tynecastle, in a similar echo of last season’s opening day defeat at Kilmarnock under Michael Beale, whereby Rangers tripped on the curtain raiser and the manager never regained any momentum to take the club forward and departed some weeks later.

Rangers are now already clearly on the back foot with Celtic expected to take maximum points tomorrow, and the manager has mostly thrown the towel in as well.

He said:

“There’s always expectancy because that’s what we are all about. We want to win things, we want to win titles, but if you have a transition then it can take maybe a little bit more time.”

“I’m 200% sure we’re going to be much better in October and November, December and the months coming after.”

Thereby admitting that the level we’re currently at is well short and there will be a big hit before we get into October.

He went on:

“It’s not only short-term anymore but also long-term. I believe the club will come better and the squad will come better. Is it now at the moment? No, it’s probably not better than at the end of the season, but we are working on that to make that better.”

So while fans could all tell the squad had gone downhill from the already poor squad it was last campaign, the manager has more or less confirmed that too – by saying it’s certainly not any better.

It’s pretty much the white flag here, for a club who pride ourselves on No Surrender and Welcoming the Chase the manager who claimed a draw as a ‘moral victory’ then announces the title is pretty much gone already is the man charged with winning the title and beating Celtic.

It’s not the most optimistic sentiments and few Rangers fans currently believe we’re anything like title contenders.

If the manager doesn’t, then the fans are unlikely to either.