GARY KEOWN: The only thing ‘freaky’ about THAT Rangers cup calamity against Queen’s Park is that Philippe Clement has somehow managed to survive it

Does Philippe Clement never learn? 

Despite being widely pilloried for babbling on about shots at goal after being taken apart in a 3-0 hammering in the first Old Firm game of the season at Parkhead, he was at it again after last weekend’s Scottish Cup catastrophe at the hands of Queen’s Park.

Now, to make matters worse, he’s taken to branding that loss to the Spiders as a ‘freaky’ result. Listen, the only thing freaky about what happened at Ibrox last Sunday and what has unfolded since is that the Belgian is still in a job. That the sorry mob of hide-and-seek champions who pass for the Rangers board of directors still believe it is acceptable to carry on regardless.

Freaky results are not the problem with Clement. It is a year-long run of calamities — and ridiculous excuses for them — dating back to a home loss to Motherwell early last March that have made it crystal-clear to everyone other than those upstairs at Ibrox that this is a guy in completely the wrong movie.

Clement and his side had the Premiership title — and an estimated £40million from automatic entry to the Champions League — in the palm of their hand last year and blew it by stumbling at home to the Fir Park side, drawing at Dundee and losing to Ross County.

They got a second bite at the cherry when coming up against a desperately mediocre Dynamo Kyiv in this term’s qualifiers for European football’s top tournament and fell flat on their faces again.

Philippe Clement has presided over Rangers’ worst ever result yet still believes he’s the man for the job

James Tavernier’s last-minute penalty miss against Queen’s Park paved the way for a week of anger from fans

Queen’s Park’s big moment at Ibrox is one they, nor their opponents, will ever be able to forget

They’ve won four games out of 12 away from home in the league and are trailing in Celtic’s wake. The domestic campaign is as dead as a dodo by mid-February. No matter all the brainless spending and waste the board have been responsible for down the years, it is bonkers that any Rangers manager can survive in these circumstances.

If ever a week showed just how low standards have dropped at the club, how failure and underperformance is becoming accepted, it is this one. It is just difficult to know who has come out of it worst — Clement or recently appointed CEO Patrick Stewart.

When one-time director John Gilligan returned last year for a brief spell as interim chairman, he stated that the board had to take some of the heat off the manager. That they recognised it wasn’t fair to shove him out there, front and centre, week after week to answer questions about areas of the club and business that are arguably even more of a shambles than the first-team.

So much for that plan. Rangers fans were desperate to hear from those in charge this week, following the worst cup loss in the club’s history, and got nothing. Complete silence. Just more of Clement showing that he really, really doesn’t get it.

On Thursday, the minutes from a meeting between Stewart, other members of management and the Rangers Fan Advisory Board dropped. Let’s just say they didn’t inspire much confidence in the new CEO either.

In that get-together with supporter representatives, he was asked about the review into the football department that he announced five weeks ago. The responses didn’t set off any fireworks. Or even provide any kind of detail.

Short-term objectives for the one-time Manchester United chief executive appear to stretch to little other than getting the review concluded, ‘readiness for the summer transfer window’, sorting out finances and preparing for season ticket renewals. In other words, nothing other than the bleedin’ obvious.

As if that wasn’t underwhelming enough, he didn’t appear to list any longer-term aims, claiming ‘these will be specifically informed by the current strategic reviews inside the club’.

Rangers chief executive Patrick Stewart has not won over many doubters with his silence

Robin Propper hid his face during the Ibrox horror show – but, in truth, all in blue went missing

Of Stewart, the minutes of the FAB meeting stated: ‘It is a priority for him and the leadership team to set a clear strategy for the club before the end of the season.’

Before the end of the season? He’s already been in the building for two months. Glaciers move faster than this.

In truth, the whole thing about bringing in external consultants felt, from the off, like Stewart kicking the can down the road and buying himself time.

Since then, there has been little to suggest he is going to go through the place like a dose of the salts. No sign of any of the dynamism from leadership positions that Rangers so desperately need.

Conspicuous by his absence post-Queen’s Park, Stewart has certainly done himself few favours. When he first arrived, Rangers fans hoped he would be the breath of fresh air needed to get the club back on the straight and narrow.

The fear now is that he’s just a ‘yes’ man for those upstairs, those responsible for the absolute state the place is in.

Of course, the longer this drags on, with Clement still in situ and nothing happening behind the scenes until the consultants have finished looking under the bonnet, the more toxic the atmosphere around Rangers is going to get.

Clement was given some verbals outside Ibrox after the Queen’s Park game. This has led to a collective throwing of hands in the air in some quarters. How dare people say hurty words to the manager.

Clement looks more and more like a haunted man the longer his Ibrox torture drags on

What do they really expect, though? This is football. These folk are paying good money to support their team and getting nothing in return. The board, for a long time now, have taken them for fools and keeping this particular manager in place feels almost like provocation.

As long as the current state of inertia continues, this anger is only going to continue to grow. Like it or lump it, those are the rules of this particular game, a fact discussed in the most perspicacious way by the Motherwell full back Stephen O’Donnell after his boss at Fir Park, Stuart Kettlewell, walked out because of abuse from punters last month.

‘I’ve had eggs thrown at my window,’ he said. ‘It’s part and parcel. I don’t like saying that because it shouldn’t be the case, but I signed up for it and my kids are too young to really understand it.

‘I just try to work hard and get out the other end. I know that, in football, if you start to perform well or better, it goes away and becomes positive.’

It’s not going to become positive for Clement, though. It is too far gone under him at Ibrox. He’s the wrong man for that particular job and has to go. Everyone can see that.

The problem is that Stewart, the bloke brought in to fix things, is beginning to look dangerously like another big appointment who doesn’t have a proper handle on what’s required either.

It is too far gone under Clement at Ibrox, but Stewart is starting to look like another big appointment who doesn’t have a proper handle on what’s required

Let’s not get all misty-eyed over Cathro and MacPhee

These are auspicious times for former Hearts manager Ian Cathro and his old Tynecastle No 2 Austin MacPhee.

MacPhee, of course, has just landed a plum role as set-piece coach for Portugal’s national team to dovetail with his day job on the staff at Aston Villa.

The fact he has not returned to the Scotland national team set-up after leaving in the wake of Euro 2024 for family reasons suggests his little spat with Steve Clarke on the touchline during the 5-1 thumping by Germany was maybe a little more significant than the national coach let on.

Whatever, let’s hope his time with the Portuguese is more successful than his previous stint as a dead-ball guru in the international arena with Clarke and Co.

Official UEFA stats show that Scotland had 53 free-kicks during Euro 2024. Unless the old mind deceives, the only one of those that delivered anything substantial was an Andy Robertson ball which Grant Hanley headed off the post against Switzerland.

MacPhee’s former colleague Cathro has been receiving acclaim this week too. Having led Estoril to five straight wins in Portugal’s Primeira Liga, he was voted Manager of the Month by his peers.

This has led to wistful questions being raised here and there. Were Hearts too quick to call time on his reign as boss after just seven months in 2017? Did Scottish football misunderstand him? Was he a man ahead of his time?

The answer, on all counts, of course, is no. He should never have been in that job in a month of Sundays, but let’s wish him good luck, all the same, in making a go of it as a manager second time around.

Ian Cathro was the wrong man in the wrong job at the wrong time when in charge of Hearts

Austin MacPhee (right) has moved on from Steve Clarke and will take up a role with Portugal

Brendan Rodgers needs to spend big if Celtic are to have any hopes of going further next year

Rodgers has earned the right to splash big cash

Whatever happens in Munich on Tuesday evening — and, let’s face it, it’s going to end in Bayern going to the last 16 of the Champions League — this has been a more than satisfactory European campaign for Celtic and manager Brendan Rodgers.

Making it to the play-off round always seemed a realistic ambition, but getting there with a statement victory over RB Leipzig and a backs-to-the-wall draw at Atalanta were real bonuses.

After more than a decade of embarrassment upon embarrassment in UEFA competition, Celtic have gone a long way towards restoring their reputation this season. 

The last 16 of Europe’s top tournament would have been real, proper, punching-above-your-weight success, but there’s only so much you can do when a fiendish draw pairs you with Bayern in the play-offs.

Progress has undoubtedly been made. Rodgers has done everything asked of him. The team, as shown by hanging in against the Bundesliga leaders despite being outplayed in the first half and getting away with a 2-1 first-leg loss, has a resilience past sides have lacked.

The board may question the worth of investing tens of millions more when this may be their ceiling at the top level and the domestic scene is such a walk in the park, but they can’t stand still now.

Rodgers has earned the right to demand serious backing in the summer. He certainly doesn’t deserve another window as underwhelming as January’s. In fact, he shouldn’t stand for it.