I got a peek inside the Rangers abyss as Clement outrages the natives before his night of high irony – Hugh Keevins

It is a textbook example of unfortunate timing as well as the height of irony.

Rangers’ manager Philippe Clement is scheduled to hold a club-organised question-and-answer session for charitable purposes on Tuesday night in the aftermath of his fifth Old Firm derby without a win. The irony being that the event comes at a time when the answers he has given to the questions about losing to Celtic last Sunday have already outraged the Ibrox support. Pre-publicity for the fans gathering states that Clement will, among other topics, discuss his: “Aspirations for this season.”

I would have thought, under current circumstances, the manager’s first target on a personal basis would have been to remain in work for the duration of the league championship. If Celtic had won by the margin they should have done last weekend – and doubled their 3-0 win to a watershed scoreline with far-reaching consequences – Clement’s employment prospects would have been left hanging by a thread.

There are embarrassments that preclude any hope of survival – and that could have been one of them. You can lose a dressing room and still have a defiant hope of survival.

But if you lose a city, then you’re done for and nothing will save you. The green half of Glasgow is laughing at Clement and the blue half has been plunged into a state of acute depression because of him.

Some of the callers to the radio since last weekend’s events at Celtic Park have provided stunning soundbites. One fan said he didn’t know: “How much more I can take.”

Another disillusioned supporter declared himself to be in the “depths of despair”. And yet another victim of remorse, gripped by a need for recrimination, summed up Rangers as being in a “dark abyss”. It is the Five Stages