It is another European midweek fixture for Rangers fans to enjoy under the lights at Ibrox this coming Thursday, as we welcome Romanian side FCSB (formerly, and better known as Steaua Bucharest) to our shores for our next Europa League clash.
Unfortunately though, our preparations for the game have been less than perfect as fans now have even greater concerns about our form and the direction we are heading in following last Sunday’s pretty pathetic and woeful defeat to Kilmarnock. With the summer transfer changes, as manager Philippe Clement prioritised a younger set of players who would ultimately have sell on value, take their time to fully settle in, it has been a slow start to our 2024/25 Scottish Premiership campaign and pressure had already been building on the gaffer.
Seven games in and we already found ourselves five points shy of top spot given we only had five wins to our name, but plenty had highlighted issues with our style of play and how we were over reliant on the likes of Cyriel Dessers to seemingly perform a role they are not suited to. But despite the top two drawing in their last match, we wasted the perfect opportunity to claw some of those points back and for the first team squad to show that they had really begun clicking and would end the year far more strongly, by again showing every single flaw we have in what ultimately became, arguably, a deserved three points for our Killie hosts. For those fans who like a flutter, you can keep up with the latest list of free bets to see what the bookies make of it all. But let’s be honest, even allowing for the plastic pitch and Storm Ashley, few would have backed the odds on that happening.
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Our 50 year old Belgian gaffer had made a big play of the conditions during the pre match build up to the tie, and then rather predictably the players seemed to take it as an excuse and simply failed to deal with them appropriately. With a strong press from them, added to our own lacklustre showing, we allowed them to take the points late on in the game. Billy Dodds was on punditry duty and he observed that the ‘attitude was miles off’ given the game could have seen us close the gap in the table to two points, and given we just did not have the hunger to take the win, nobody will disagree with his assessment.
And we are now six points shy of the summit and still do not appear to have a plan B when plan A is an abject failure, and things could get worse on Thursday evening as FCSB are currently sat in fourth spot with two wins from two and will be a far tougher test than our last opponents.
With us now having suffered two defeats from eight, it is no surprise at all to see talk of Clement’s future largely dominate the press this week and there is strong speculation that our board are now actively formulating plans and looking at their replacement options, should they decide to bite the bullet if things do not dramatically improve.
Whilst some of our playing issues are not new and had been discussed last season, when you compare the atmosphere to last year it is now chalk and cheese and the optimism we had, that also tempted the board into handing Clement a new contract until the summer of 2028, has largely evaporated and for those fans who feared we had gone too far too quickly in pivoting to a more youthful squad, they will feel that they have been proven right.
If the rumours are to be believed, the board are not yet far enough through the formulation of their back up plans for Clement’s departure to be considered imminent, but he is certainly no longer secure. If fans do not have something to cheer from FCSB and then the clash with St Mirren the following weekend, Ibrox is not going to be a happy place and we could see action sooner rather than later.
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