Clement thought he had leeway with Rangers fans but Celtic can leave boss in untenable position after being sold a pup

Philippe Clement might be many things.

Stubborn, certainly. Single-minded, definitely. Maybe even a bit naive, when it comes to understanding Rangers and the Old Firm rivalry in this city. But one thing’s for sure. He’s not daft. So at 5pm today, if Celtic have left Ibrox after plundering yet another victory against his team - the Belgian himself will know his time in Glasgow is up. If you’re managing one of these clubs at ANY time in their history and fall 17 points adrift of the other, your position is untenable.

When you throw in a failure to win any of your first seven derbies as gaffer, it’s impossible to see a way back. And when your side simply can’t get a result away from home in the Scottish Premiership - any case for the defence disintegrates. Clement has enough experience and is long enough in the tooth to accept that.

So he’ll expect the inevitable call from Rangers’ new CEO Patrick Stewart, who will be forced into his first big decision in the job. And rarely has an Old Firm boss contributed to their own downfall as much as Clement. Let’s get one thing straight. In the summer, HE could have justifiably chucked it and left the club in the lurch.

After all, he’d been sold a pup by the Ibrox board. When things had gone pear-shaped, finances were running dry - and millions of pounds worth of talent walked out the door for zilch - they moved the goalposts on their manager.

At that point, no-one could have blamed Clement for telling them where to stick their job. It’s to his credit that he didn’t. You can’t say he hasn’t got a bit of grit and determination about him.

But what that also did was allow Clement to think he had leeway with supporters. And that just doesn’t exist in this environment – not even without