Shocker with timing as Philippe Clement mouths off about Rangers | OneFootball

We’re not entirely sure what Philippe Clement stands to gain by blabbing to the press right now. The former Rangers manager Philippe Clement mouths off about Rangers to various podcasts and media outlets in the past few days. And parts of the Scottish press lapping it up and printing every word with relish. The agenda here isn’t obvious.

Clement’s final months — and truthfully his entire tenure — were steeped in controversy. It all began with promise, well, at least the first match did, but it was downhill from there in a broad and rather abstract sense. That’s why his sudden decision to mouth off to the press has us intrigued, particularly the timing.

It broke on the day of the Plzen tie. That very afternoon, a Scottish outlet published eye-catching content about Clement after he’d appeared on a certain podcast. The piece wasn’t exactly flattering — and given the outlet runs a dedicated Rangers publication, the choice to run it then was disruptive. In the end it had no real impact on the match, but the comments themselves were hardly welcome. Talk of senior players being unhappy with Michael Beale’s signings, hints at dressing-room disruption, and other bits that don’t even merit repeating.

The timing still baffles us. Why drop that right before a Champions League qualifier first leg? Philippe Clement mouths off about Rangers? We don’t know exactly when the podcast took place, but the paper published a transcript of it. Was that really necessary on matchday? Of course, we’re not hypocrites here on Ibrox Noise — we’ve run our fair share of awkwardly timed pieces and later admitted maybe the moment wasn’t ideal. But this was a doozy. Clement is a big name, and coming out with this right before a crucial tie doesn’t scream loyalty to the club’s best interests.

Yes, he has made some positive comments about Rangers. But he’s also blamed the board for most of what went wrong. We know this man takes no responsibility. Winning the League Cup didn’t save him from being a managerial failure overall. And the fact he still can’t seem to let it go makes it all the more curious.