Rangers sack Clement following loss to St Mirren

Following Saturday’s defeat at home against St Mirren, Rangers are 13 points adrift of Scottish Premiership leaders Celtic.

Rangers remarked, “The club would like to express our sincere thanks to Philippe for his hard work and commitment during his term in charge.”

The club will provide a further update as needed.

The Belgian, 50, had been under pressure this season as his team struggled to match Celtic’s consistency and this month’s Scottish Cup loss at home to Queen’s Park increased supporter unrest.

Clement joined Rangers in October 2023 following Michael Beale’s 10-month reign, soon winning the League Cup and leading the team to the top of the Premiership.

However, a poor Celtic record prevented the loss of the Scottish Cup and league titles from last year.

Clement was subject to scrutiny this term as a result of league defeats suffered by Celtic, Kilmarnock, Aberdeen, and St Mirren, and Rangers lost in the penalty shootout to Celtic in the final.

Clement’s fate was ultimately sealed by Rangers’ league victory over Celtic at Ibrox in January, which temporarily eased the pressure but which also resulted in further drop points at Hibernian and Dundee.

St Mirren won their first game at Ibrox since 1991, less than two weeks after Queen’s Park’s Cup side had earlier defeated Celtic earlier on Saturday.

In Europe, Clement’s record was competent, emulating last season’s achievement of reaching the last 16 of the Europa League and Jose Mourinho’s Fenerbahce will meet Rangers over two legs in March for a place in the quarter-finals.

The board was considering changing its management last week as Rangers continued to have an interest in Europe.

“We have been underperforming for several seasons now and that’s not down to a manager”, he said. The manager has been changed, but nothing has changed.

It’s like trying to repair a broken house by starting with the ceiling rather than the foundations until we sort the root causes.

“We do have to give Philippe and the team credit for the Europa League run, despite the disastrous outcome of Queen’s Park.” I oppose any action that would threaten the Europa League’s future advancement.

Clement’s summer transfer budget was constrained by his defeat in the Champions League qualifying stages in August, which contributed to a worsening financial situation off the field.

Rangers announced a £17.2m loss for the year to June, up £4.1m from the previous accounting period, prompting a reduction to the first-team wage bill for this season.

Contrasted with three-in-a-row champions Celtic’s £13.4m profit, Rangers ‘ failure to reach the Champions League group stage last season or league phase this term was laid bare.

Rangers will receive a third-season managerial pay-out under the auspices of the former Club Brugges and Monaco boss Clement, who had earlier signed a new deal until 2028.

In fact, Rangers are searching for their fifth permanent manager in four years, with neither Beale, Clement, or Giovanni van Bronckhorst posing a credible enough threat to Celtic since Steven Gerrard won the Ibrox club’s most recent title in 2021.

Stewart joined Manchester United and Fraser Thornton joined Ibrox as non-executive chairman in recent months.

Following James Bisgrove’s departure for the summer, there had been around six months of vacant positions for the chief executive, and John Gilligan had been appointed interim chairman in September after John Bennett resigned on health grounds.