Rangers hire an upgrade after 5 boss missteps as Philippe Clement eyes magic over tragic – Keith Jackson

None of it is even remotely the fault of Philippe Clement. And yet, the similarities are difficult to ignore nonetheless.

The balding, shaven head. The steely, serious stare. The Gallic twang. Even the surname gives off a whiff of a previous managerial misadventure. That he posed for his first photographs as Rangers manager wearing a pair of jeans may, unfortunately, have added to these Paul Le Guen parallels given that the Frenchman, from day one, never really appeared to have a grasp on what this football club means to its supporters. Or what the job of leading it truly entails.

But what Clement has said and done in his first few days in the job suggests that the Belgian might be a manager of genuine substance rather than another reminder of the difficulties involved in appointing the right man for this very specific job. Time and time again over the years, the list of custodians of Rangers have taken it in turns to botch their responsibilities whenever they’ve been charged with the task of identifying the man best qualified to put a winning team on the park.

Sir David Murray started it all when he chased after Le Guen only to discover a few months later that his star candidate was so completely disinterested in holding down the position that he hadn’t even bothered to unpack the cardboard boxes in his garage. Le Guen lasted just 240 days but the catastrophic damage done in that short space of time was close to jaw dropping.

So much so, that it required none other than the late, great Walter Smith to carry out the repair work and return Rangers to where he had left them during his first title laden stint in charge. Smith’s huge shadow remains in place. Against his work, that of all others will be judged and Clement is