There’s a lingering feeling that Rangers didn’t really gain anything by sacking Clement when we did. Not because every result was spotless under him, or because supporters weren’t entitled to question the direction, but because the follow-up looked like a stopgap from the minute it happened.
A change that didn’t feel like a plan
If you sack a manager midstream, you’re meant to be buying clarity. A new style, a new voice, a clear idea of where it’s going next. Instead, it felt like we chopped the head off the project and then spent a spell treading water, without any real intention of giving Barry the job long term.
That’s the bit that sticks in the throat. If you know it’s temporary, what exactly are you building in the meantime? You can maybe squeeze a reaction for a week or two, but Rangers aren’t a club that can afford to punt months just “getting through it”. Not with a league campaign that demands relentless consistency and a squad that clearly needed smart, targeted work.
The Koppen question and squad churn
The other frustration is the what-if around Koppen and Clement working together properly with genuine backing. It’s not even about throwing money at it for the sake of it. It’s about having a coherent recruitment plan that fits the manager’s ideas and fixes obvious gaps.
Fans will argue forever about who should’ve stayed and who should’ve gone, but it’s fair to say the churn didn’t leave the squad looking stronger in every area. Under a settled manager, some of the boys who moved on might have looked at the bigger picture and thought twice. And if a few of them did still go, at least you’d have had continuity in the thinking, rather than a new set of priorities every few months.
Europe and the margins that matter
Europe is where a manager’s “savvy” really shows. Clement always came across as someone who understood the fine details: game state, when to slow it down, when to take risks, how to manage a tie over two legs. That doesn’t guarantee Champions League qualification, and nobody should pretend it does, but it might have given us a better chance than ripping it up and starting again.
Same goes for the Europa. Rangers sides don’t need to be perfect to compete in that competition, but they do need organisation and a clear approach. When you’re losing games you feel last season’s team might have found a way through, it naturally feeds the argument that the change cost us points and momentum.
Water under the bridge, as the saying goes. It’s Danny now, and he deserves a fair run without folk constantly fighting yesterday’s battles. Still, it’s hard not to wish we’d made the decision earlier with conviction, or not at all. And for what it’s worth, good luck to Phil at Norwich.
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