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The National (Scotland)
The National (Scotland)
Sport
Ewan Paton

What Rangers' next steps are following the sack of Philippe Clement

Rangers are on the lookout for their fifth permanent manager in the last four years. 

Since Steven Gerrard left the Scottish Premiership giants for the glitz and glamour of England's Premier League, Giovanni van Bronckhorst, Michael Beale and now Philippe Clement have come and gone. 

The Belgian was the latest dismissal by the Ibrox board yesterday evening. 

A club statement confirmed: "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 leaves Rangers 13 points behind arch-Glasgow rivals Celtic in the league table and out of the Scottish Cup after being humiliated by Queen's Park. 

Rangers could count themselves unlucky in the Scottish League Cup final loss to Celtic on penalties, while they are still in Europe, with a Europa League last-16 tie against Fenerbahce lying in wait for the new manager.

And that is exactly what is next for Rangers - finding a new manager. 

How they go about it, and what that process looks like is up to new CEO Patrick Stewart, as this comes under his remit.

He arrived at the club just over two months ago, and already it's been an extremely busy time for the former Manchester United employee with a root and branch review of the club's football operations underway, fresh investment from 49ers Enterprises on its way and a change of first team manager.

Saturday's 2-0 loss at home to St Mirren proved to be the final straw for Clement's time at Rangers.

He leaves with just one trophy to his name, the 2023 League Cup, and a 5 percent win record as boss. 

Stewart will be keen to ensure that the next Rangers manager has what it takes to secure several more trophies for the club.


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It's widely expected that the appointment of a caretaker manager will come today, with Rangers' next game in just over 48 hours' time at Rugby Park.

This could be either under-18s coach Kevin Thomson and/or Clement’s old No.2 Issame Chara.

Depending on how long it takes Rangers to appoint a full-time permanent replacement for Clement, an interim boss could be installed, perhaps until the end of the season.

Given that the club is looking to hire a sporting director, this would make a lot of sense and would buy them more time to make the right appointment. The impending takeover from the owners of San Francisco 49ers could also influence the club to lean towards an interim manager for the time being.

The likes of club icon Neil McCann have been floated for this role.

Russell Martin is also reportedly under serious consideration by senior figures at the club.

The former Gers defender has been out of work since leaving Southampton earlier this campaign.

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