Clement must win the hearts and minds of the Rangers. Beating Celtic would help | Scottish Premier League

PHilippe Clement can only hope that the law of averages is due to swing in his favor. If not, the sense of a protracted, unsatisfying end to his spell as manager of Rangers will have intensified on Thursday night.

Brendan Rodgers has only tasted defeat in one of 20 Old Firm games. Celtic’s manager has presided over 16 wins in the run. Clement would be forgiven for trepidation as Rangers prepare to host their oldest foes. The Belgian is yet to defeat Celtic, having faced them half a dozen times.

Clement might reasonably point out that any focus on this match is unfair. After all, Celtic are far superior to Rangers; they have been for more than a decade, barring the odd notable high for Glasgow’s blue half. The cliché suggests that form books fly out of windows in derby matches, which is typically untrue. As Celtic have dominated Scottish football in this era, it stands to reason that Rangers will find it difficult to beat them.

Clement’s problem lies in an inability to capture hearts and minds. There are precious few signs of Rangers’ progress almost 15 months into the 50-year-old’s tenure. That’s why he desperately needs to beat Celtic. The manager is seen, rightly or wrongly, as an apologist at a time when Rangers need straight-talking. They are 14 points behind in the Premier League. Their home form is terrible as they spend far more than anyone other than Celtic. The only reliable thing about the Rangers is their unreliability.

Rangers supporters will historically turn a blind eye to style when results are good. Clement’s team does not deliver on either front. The softness of Clement’s Rangers was demonstrated in recent weeks when a strong display in losing a League Cup final on penalties to Celtic was followed by a loss at St Mirren and a draw against Motherwell. Rangers were 2-0 down at half-time at Fir Park on Sunday when the supporters mutinied.

Next up, the champions at a time when Rangers are ominously short of defenders and will be without their goalkeeper Jack Butland, who spent Tuesday night in hospital with what he described as “significant” internal bleeding in one of his legs. Rangers said Butland had been released from hospital and was recovering.

Clement sees safety in achieving alternative goals, such as developing and selling “exciting young players”. While Rangers may be improving in that area, there has still been considerable wastage since Clement replaced the hapless Michael Beale. Clement has also been empowered by a messy regime above him, consisting of countless minority shareholders plus a CEO and chairman who has been in office for less than a month. It’s hard to see who is calling the shots at Ibrox. There is also no attractive list of candidates to fill a managerial position, with the second best looking inevitable for years due to Celtic’s strength on and off the pitch.

“I can see what everyone is doing to get this club back to the level it needs to be at,” Clement said. “But I also knew that it would be a really big challenge. I took that challenge with every ounce of energy in my body and I will continue to do so. I know that when you don’t get the results that people expect, you will get criticism. I also know that people in the club know what the plan is. A big step in the summer was to become sustainable again and invest in young players.” Clement’s reasoning here is sound but belied by routine Rangers messages of needing to win now.

Rodgers has had to bite back on the feeling that this game is a dead rubber for his players. The derby remains as good as it gets on the home front for Celtic. It has been a bit comical to hear Rodgers hailing his players for recent wins over St Johnstone and Motherwell without any admission of the gulf between Celtic and such opposition. Think Tolstoy versus a toddler at Scrabble. Rodgers seems to have the world believing that Scotland offers a serious and seriously competitive league when in truth it stopped being the case a long time ago. This season’s Champions League, in which Celtic have performed very well, has played down that debate, but the unsatisfactory nature of the Scottish Premier League will frustrate Rodgers – again – eventually. He is therefore right to talk about the sense of occasion when Celtic visit Ibrox.

Should Rodgers maintain his love affair with this game, the remaining Clement credit will be drained from the bank. Rangers will therefore be moving towards another manager, either immediately or at the end of this season. No amount of big shots from Clement will change that reality. What he would give for three points and a fresh life.