‘Total chaos’ – Clement reflects on ‘frustrating’ Rangers stint

Rangers vs. Viktoria Plzen in the first leg of the Champions League third qualifying round

Ibrox Date: Tuesday, August 5th, 2019 Kick-off: 19:45 BST

Former Rangers manager Philippe Clement claims that the boardroom’s “total chaos” kept his job at Ibrox.

In October of that year, the Belgian coach took Michael Beale’s place, and he won the League Cup that year.

In his first year in charge, he also overhauled Celtic, winning them eight points and beating Motherwell, Ross County, and Celtic themselves in the title race.

A last-gasp Adam Idah goal in the final minute gave Celtic a 2-1 win over Celtic in the Scottish Cup.

The upheaval of Clement’s first summer in charge followed that.

Rangers started the season at Hampden Park due to a late shipment of materials for development works on the Copland Stand at Ibrox, while chairman John Bennett resigned for a position in the Middle East, and chief executive James Bisgrove left for a role in the Middle East.

Clement stated on BBC Scotland’s Sacked in the Morning podcast, “That’s the frustrating part of the story.”

Everyone was extremely pleased with what transpired in the club during the first seven months. A significant change occurred.

However, following that, the club changed a lot and things started to get chaotic.

Clement was left to address questions about the club’s off-field issues because of a lack of communication between the players in charge.

He claims that the board was unwilling to tell supporters about the long-term project Celtic needed to complete over the summer.

According to Clement, “They said we know we don’t currently have the money that Celtic does.”

“It was a very old squad,” the player said. We are aware that to close this financial gap with Celtic, we will need four, five, or perhaps six transfer windows.

And it begins with bringing in young players, developing them, improving them, and selling them to resurrect the club where it belongs.

Because the fans were already very upset about the stadium issue, I believe the board was reluctant to say these things to them.

Because there was no one else speaking in the club, I was the only one there.

Clement believes that instability at the top of the club was a key factor in Celtic’s on-field dominance during his time at Rangers, despite the fact that the club has since been taken over by a US-based consortium led by private healthcare tycoon Andrew Cavenagh.

When asked about the gap between the Old Firm clubs, he said, “There was a big difference about everything around the team, even maybe a bigger difference than on the pitch.”

Celtic is much more organized than Rangers in terms of preparation and throughout the entire club.

Following a league defeat defeat by St Mirren, Clement was fired in February 2025, leaving Rangers 13 points behind Celtic.

Additionally, earlier that month, he had been humiliated by Championship side Queen’s Park’s Cup exit.

Before the club relieved him of his duties, an incident that irritated him, the former Belgium defender revealed that he was informed of the decision by journalists.

Clement remarked, “It felt incredibly empty.” Because all the journalists I spoke to already knew me, I was also upset that day.

I was unhappy with the fact that I received numerous messages from Scotland, England, and Belgium even before the club even contacted me. That is bad.

“I also told them that that was utter disrespectful,” I said.

However, because you combine everything in the club for both your full day and night, I felt really empty.