Philippe Clement needs Rangers to beat Celtic in Scottish Cup final

But that, following a 2-1 defeat at the weekend which leaves his side needing divine intervention to lift the Scottish title this season, is now a very real possibility.

There remains, even though the league is almost lost, widespread admiration of the job which Clement has done down Govan way and a heartfelt appreciation the significant improvements that he has overseen since being appointed manager back in October.

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Would Rangers have pulled a goal back so quickly after conceding two in quick succession before he arrived? Would they have competed with their city rivals so well after being reduced to 10 men? Would they still have been pushing for an improbable equaliser deep into injury-time in such a hostile environment?

There is also sympathy for the conditions that he has been forced to work in. He has had to contend with a horrendous injury list during the past six months and went into the derby game without Leon Balogun, Oscar Cortes, Danilo, Connor Goldson, Ryan Jack, Rabbi Matondo and Abdallah Sima.

Ridvan Yilmaz, the left back who was arguably his most effective performer before he suffered a knock on international duty with Tukey back in March, was also not considered fit enough to start in the East End of Glasgow.

There is, too, an appreciation that, even with his very best players at his disposal, Celtic possess superior quality in defence, in midfield and in attack due to their greater resources. That the champions elect have not lost a meaningful derby in the Premiership in nearly three years now tells a story.      

However, failing to prevail in three Old Firm games in a row does nothing to endear a Rangers manager to his team’s supporters regardless of the reasons.

Clement desperately needs his charges to end their winless run against their age-old adversaries in the Scottish Gas Scottish Cup final at Hampden on Saturday week to retain the goodwill of those who cheer them on from the stands ahead of the 2024/25 campaign. 

Rumblings of discontent started to grow louder when seven points were dropped during a calamitous three game run against Celtic at home and Ross County and Dundee away last month.

There was savage criticism of both his team selection and his tactics in pubs around the city, on radio phone-ins and on social media websites at the weekend. Why did he play Dujon Sterling wide on the right? Why did Todd Cantwell not start again? Why did the playmaker not come off the bench? Why did Ross McCausland replace John Souttar? Why has Nicolas Raskin been frozen out?     

Such a negative reaction is only to be expected after such a devastating result. Some of it was justified, but a lot of it was unfair. Footballers instantly become far better than they actually are, become the panacea to all of a side’s ills in fact, if they do not feature and a reverse is suffered. Cantwell has regularly been posted missing against Celtic in the past.  

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But the statistics were certainly damning. Rangers mustered just a solitary shot on target during the course of 90 minutes. Joe Hart did not have a single save of note to make. His compatriot Jack Butland, meanwhile, was called in to action on no fewer than six occasions.

If it had not been for Butland, who stopped Souttar from putting the ball into his own net with just a minute on the clock and then denied James Forrest, Kyogo Furuhashi and Matt O’Riley from the penalty spot, the visitors could very well have taken one hell of a beating. 

John Lundstram’s moment of madness – the midfielder was rightly red carded by referee Willie Collum in the second minute of added on time at the end of the first half following a VAR check for a rash and pointless foul on Alistair Johnston – definitely had a huge bearing on proceedings.

Rangers, though, had been second best up until that point. Would the final outcome really have been any different if Lundstram, who clumsily turned a Daizen Maeda cross beyond his goalkeeper during his time on the pitch, had not been ordered off? It is unlikely given the extent to which the hosts had dominated.

There is no need for Clement to panic or despair. If he can lift his men’s spirits in the coming days, record back-to-back Premiership wins over Dundee at home tomorrow evening and Hearts away on Saturday, get a few bodies back and keep a full complement of players on the park, he can certainly add the Scottish Cup to the League Cup which he won in December. 

Having one half of the Mount Florida venue filled with Bears – unlike at Parkhead on Saturday when there were only 60,000 odd Hoops diehards in attendance - will help his cause no end.

Laying his hands on two trophies in his debut season in this country will, especially considering the mess he inherited when he took over last year, be a decent return and will go a long way towards keeping supporters who have shown they have little patience or understanding in the past few years onside.

But landing more silverware would still leave him needing to address myriad issues this summer and beyond. He has to clear the dead wood out of his squad and recruit extensively and intelligently with limited funds. He also has to prepare well in pre-season and try to ensure that there is not such a long queue outside the physio room next term.

Philippe Clement will become the latest casualty of the Ibrox hotseat if he fails to end Celtic’s domestic dominance of Rangers despite the considerable challenges which he faces.