Philippe Clement hurling Rangers players under a bus shows ignorance from a man with few Ibrox allies left

Ahead of last month’s trip to Old Trafford, Philippe Clement was adamant he’d never set out to park the bus.

But back at Ibrox this weekend, the Rangers boss was more than happy to hurl his players right underneath one. By insisting that no other manager could have changed the course of Sunday’s Scottish Cup shocker at home to Queen’s Park, he was placing the blame squarely at the team he sent out to face Callum Davidson’s Championship side.

It wasn’t down to his tactics or team selection, he insisted. It was all about the players and their lack of “composure, coolness”. Pointing to their emotions and nerves during a defiant post-match press conference, he went on. It was one of our big goals and our shortest chance to go to win a trophy this season,” said the Ibrox boss, scrambling for an excuse. “We all know that. That's probably also one of the reasons that the team was nervous in the second half because they wanted that so much because they know how important it is for the club.”

But given the beleaguered Belgian doesn’t have many allies around Ibrox these days, you have to wonder about the wisdom of castigating the men he is reliant upon putting in performances.

Terry Butcher tried that once when he was Hibs boss back in 2014 - and was left surprised when a Leith team he was supposed to lead into the top six ended up being relegated.

That’s not to absolve the Rangers players of responsibility for a result that will be written into the bleakest chapters of the club’s history books, slotted alongside those infamous Scottish Cup upsets against Berwick and Hamilton, the loses to Stirling Albion and Raith Rovers during the Journey and the bushwhacking at the hands of Progres Niederkorn under Pedro Caixinha. Far from it.