The difficulties that Storm Bert posed to those who would otherwise have travelled to Ibrox on Saturday may explain, in part, many of the empty seats around the stadium.

But the inclement weather doesn’t obscure Philippe Clement’s part in it too, or explain away the mass half time exodus of the many Rangers supporters who did make it to Govan.

After the dismal draw with Dundee United left Rangers a staggering 11 points behind city rivals Celtic, and still eight behind Aberdeen despite the Dons losing to St Mirren, the embattled Clement is now at the centre of a storm of his own brewing.

The Belgian has pleaded for time to get his ‘rebuild’ right, but having earlier in the season asked fans and observers to judge his side come October and November, his time is up. Perhaps, in more ways than one. The verdict is in from the fans, and it is as emphatic as it is damning.

The draw with United was just the latest uninspired display from a team lacking in invention, and who are working under a manager that increasingly looks out of ideas. What is absolutely certain is that the vast majority of Rangers fans have run out of patience.

The number of empty seats around Ibrox come the final whistle at the weekend may have caught the eye of the board, whose unequivocal backing of Clement was well intentioned enough (even if his summer contract extension was baffling), as they tried to bring an end to the cycle of hiring and firing managers every autumn. But it increasingly appears that they have backed the wrong horse.

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Aiming to bring stability to the Ibrox dugout is all well and good, but there is a limit to what the Rangers fans will put up with. Recognising you may have pulled the trigger too early in the past, as could certainly be argued in the case of Giovanni van Bronckhorst, doesn’t mean you should persevere too long when it is clear that things are not working out.

Clement seems like a good man, and as he has shown at various stages in his career, has the capability to be a successful manager. Early in his tenure, he exhibited the sort of strong leadership and gravitas that had fans excited they may have found someone who was cut from the same sort of cloth as Walter Smith.

Sadly for them, as time has gone on, he is instead resembling the sorry sort of figure that the likes of Pedro Caixinha did before him in the latter stages of his Ibrox reign, when it was clear that the Rangers job had chewed him up, and was about to spit him out.

Comparisons with Caixinha may not be entirely fair given the pedigree of Clement before he arrived at Rangers, but they are hardly wild either based on his recent record. When Caixinha was dismissed, his Rangers side were just nine points behind Celtic, two points closer than they currently are.

A League Cup semi final defeat to Motherwell was the final straw for Caixinha, and Clement looked likely to be suffering an eerily similar fate as his side went a goal down to the Steelmen at Hampden at the same stage of this competition at the beginning of the month.

They managed to turn that one around with a late winner saving his skin, but Clement turning the opinions of the Rangers support around seems not only a far harder task, but a fanciful notion. And what has contributed to that has not only been his similarities to Caixinha in his stats, but in his post-match debriefs.

(Image: Rob Casey - SNS Group)

Clement has at times attempted to convince fans that black is white. His defence of his team's performances have increasingly strayed into gaslighting territory, and he has often meandered into the sort of shtick that still makes Caixinha a figure of fun in these parts to this day.

Instead of dogs and caravans it has been toenails and moral victories, but it has been just as unconvincing.

Rangers fans don’t want to hear about how Aberdeen didn’t blow them away after suffering a defeat at Pittodrie, they want to see their side blow the Dons away.

They don’t want to hear about how good the second half was after coming from behind at home to draw with newly promoted Dundee United.

They don’t want to hear a manager pleading poverty when he has had a significant amount to spend, with little to show for it, particularly when they look no better than many smaller teams in the division with a fraction of their budget.

They don’t want to hear about how young their team is when they slip up yet again, when the youngest average age of a starting XI Clement has put out this season has been 26.

And they certainly don’t want to hear their manager tacitly accepting that second best to Celtic is now the best they can hope for, no matter the odds that are currently stacked against them.

Frankly, second best is – at the moment – a pipe dream. Apathy is rapidly replacing anger. And it is increasingly clear that what the Rangers fans now do want to hear more than anything, regrettably, is that Clement has been relieved of his duties.