Celtic is gearing up to capitalize on Rangers’ potential managerial upheaval. Rangers manager Philippe Clement is reportedly facing a sack threat, which could give Celtic the opportunity to gain an upper hand in the Scottish Premiership ¹.
Celtic has been performing well, with a 5-0 win over Ross County in their last match ¹. Meanwhile, Rangers are struggling, and Clement’s future is uncertain. If Clement is indeed sacked, it could lead to a period of instability at Rangers, which Celtic can exploit to their advantage.
It’s worth noting that Rangers recently gave Clement a 12-month contract extension, despite their poor performance ². However, this decision may not be enough to save Clement’s job if Rangers’ results don’t improve soon.
Celtic, on the other hand, is looking to build on their momentum and secure a strong position in the league. With Rangers facing uncertainty, Celtic may be able to “flip the switch” and gain a significant advantage in the title race.
Most Ibrox fans likely feel the same way. The axe has yet to fall, but only because the club is so paralysed structurally that it’s keeping him in place for now.
Clement is a dead man walking, and anyone looking at this rationally can see it. Yesterday, they scraped a win against St Johnstone thanks to a single own goal
For all that the St Johnstone keeper made a few saves, the fact remains that, without that own goal, they would have dropped more points.
This is not an impressive team. Their style is uninspiring. Jackson highlighted some obvious points today in his article, which I’ll explore further tomorrow when I examine Clement in depth. But he’s not said anything we haven’t already discussed here.
One of the subjects we’ve talked about many times on this blog is how a manager eventually reaches a point where there’s no hope of turning things around. They run out of options and are left clinging on week by week, game by game, hoping to scrape together a run of results. All the while, they live in fear of the kind of defeat that will end it all.
For fans, this shifts the experience of watching their team. Instead of looking forward to good football, as Celtic supporters do now, you find yourself attending games wondering if this is the one that brings the curtain down.
For Ibrox fans, and for their hapless boss, that moment isn’t far away. Unfortunately for them, it’s a cup final—and against us.
That match has the potential to put to rest the Survival Lie by rendering their most treasured claim—the trophy count—irrelevant. In a fortnight, even accounting for The Lie, we could pull ahead of them, and their greatest crutch will crumble.
It’s a scenario they fear, but perhaps not as much as they fear the current situation dragging on endlessly. This is the game that will finish Clement.
It’s one he cannot survive if Celtic turn up and do the business. The result could be catastrophic for them, and the record will show a manager with no clue how to get a result against us when it matters. Few managers at Ibrox survive a record that bad.
As we’ve said here before, the timing of their chief executive appointment is no coincidence. That move was designed to provide a quick response to losing that game. The club aims to shift the narrative, regain some support, and salvage what’s left of the season. Whatever short-term damage this causes, financially or otherwise, they likely see it as a price worth paying to refocus the media spotlight away from Celtic’s success
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