Philippe Clement has been sacked as the Rangers manager after 16 months in charge following damaging back-to-back home defeats. The Belgian has been under extreme pressure since the humiliating Scottish Cup exit at the hands of the Scottish Championship side Queen’s Park a fortnight ago, and a first Ibrox loss to St Mirren since 1991 on Saturday proved to be the final straw for the board.
Clement departs Rangers – 13 points adrift of their city rivals Celtic at the top of the Scottish Premiership – at a time when the club are in talks about a multimillion-pound investment by a United States-led consortium which includes Paraag Marathe, president of 49ers Enterprises and chairman of Leeds United.
A statement from Rangers on Sunday evening read: “Rangers Football Club can confirm it has tonight parted company with men’s first-team manager, Philippe Clement.
“The club would like to put on record their sincere thanks to Philippe for his hard work and dedication during his spell in charge. A further update from the club will follow in due course.”
Clement succeeded Michael Beale in October 2023 and led Rangers to the League Cup two months after his appointment. The former Club Brugge and Monaco manager briefly hauled them into title contention last season, but they eventually finished eight points adrift of Celtic. He was never able to recapture the promising form of his early months in the job.
Although he led the club to the last 16 of the Europa League, where they will face Fenerbahce next month, the 50-year-old vacates his position at Ibrox with Rangers well adrift of Celtic at the top of the league and set to end the season without a domestic trophy.
Rangers have struggled badly on their travels this season, winning only five of their 13 away matches in the Premiership, but their relatively strong home form at least kept them clear of the pack in second place.
Patrick Stewart, their recently appointed chief executive, had twice given his backing to the increasingly beleaguered manager.
However, their last two Ibrox results in effect signalled the end for the 50-year-old, who described Saturday’s display in the 2-0 defeat by St Mirren as “by far the worst I’ve seen in all the time I’ve been here”. PA Media
Source: theguardian.com
