Promising start to Old Firm misery, fan anger and cup humiliation: A look back at Philippe Clement's Ibrox reign

Philippe Clement has parted company with Rangers following a 16-month spell as manager.

Back-to-back home defeats to Queen’s Park and St Mirren turned out to be the final straw for the club’s hierarchy.

The Ibrox side now face a season with no silverware after losing the League Cup final, embarrassed by the Spiders in the last 16 of the Scottish and being a distant second to Celtic at the top of the Premiership.

As the dust begins to settle on his departure, we take a look back at how the Clement era at Ibrox unravelled.

Promising start and trophy win

After Michael Beale was shown the door in October 2023 Rangers turned to the former Monaco manager to steady the ship, and it began well.

A 4-0 win against Hibs saw Rangers go on a run of 16 games unbeaten, winning 13 in the process, while managing to cut what seemed an insurmountable gap at the top that Clement inherited.

That run also saw the Ibrox club progress to the last 16 of the Europa League aided by an impressive 3-2 win away to Real Betis in their final group game.

Then at the national stadium, after less than two months in the job, Clement picked up his first piece of silverware.

A 1-0 win over Aberdeen in the League Cup brought the trophy back to Ibrox for the first time since the 2010/11 campaign.

Clement was enjoying his early life as Rangers manager, but that early momentum was halted soon after when he came up against Celtic for the first time and suffered his first defeat in Scotland in a 2-1 loss at Parkhead.

The January transfer window saw the Belgian dip into the market for the first time with Fabio Silva, Mohammed Diomande and Oscar Cortes all arriving at Ibrox.

Rangers again went on an impressive run of form, recording 11 wins in a row that moved them to the top of the table, with their fans beginning to believe in a possible title win that seemed almost impossible just a few months earlier.

Meanwhile, their European adventure ended in the round of 16 after defeat to Benfica at Ibrox.

Wheels come off in title race

The league form began to falter with three games without a win. That run started with a 3-3 draw with Celtic at Ibrox, when they came back from 2-0 and then 3-2 down to take a point.

They still had the destination of the title in their own hands until a calamitous 3-2 defeat to Ross County was followed by a goalless draw at Dundee, leaving them trailing Celtic by three points and still facing another trip to Parkhead.

Another defeat in the Old Firm derby all but secured another league championship for Brendan Rodgers and his team.

Clement’s misery was compounded a few weeks later at the national stadium when, yet again, he failed to beat Celtic who wrapped up the double with a 1-0 win in the Scottish Cup.

New season, new hope and lengthy new deal

The summer saw the wind of change at Ibrox as Clement began to make his mark on the team.

Fifteen players, including the likes of John Lundstram, Connor Goldson, Borna Barasic, Kemar Roofe and Todd Cantwell, were all shown the door.

He was backed by the board to bring in his own replacements with money spent on several new players including Nedim Bajrami, Robin Propper and Hamza Igamane.

Clement himself signed on the dotted line of a new four-year-deal meaning he was now contracted to the club until the summer of 2028.

Fan anger after disruptions off the park and poor performances on it

It was also a summer of disruption with delays to building works, meaning Ibrox stadium wasn’t ready for the new season, and Rangers had to move temporarily to Hampden.

In addition, there were high-profile exits in the boardroom, as chief executive James Bisgrove left for Saudi Arabia and chairman John Bennett stood down for health reasons.

And it was also a stuttering start to the season on the pitch.

An opening day draw away to Hearts in the league was followed by an early exit from the Champions League after defeat to Dynamo Kiev – with pressure beginning to build on the Belgian already.

Again Clement’s men were beaten comfortably by Celtic, leading to the manager being confronted by angry fans upon their return to Ibrox.

Clement managed a run of wins to ease the pressure slightly, but that was followed by a heavy defeat to Lyon in the Europa League and a loss to Kilmarnock at Rugby Park as Aberdeen and Celtic both moved six clear – and the growing fans’ anger was now clear to see.

That was compounded as Rangers fell nine points behind in the title race – as Aberdeen put them to the sword in a two-one defeat at Pittodrie.

Ship steadied before same problems arise again

The Belgian would steady the ship in the weeks ahead, regaining second spot in the table and putting in impressive performances in Europe including a one all draw against Ange Postecoglou’s Spurs.

But the first piece of silverware went to rivals Celtic as Clement was beaten once again in the derby, this time in a controversial penalty shoot-out defeat at the national stadium in the League Cup final.

That meant it was now six games without a win against their city rivals.

The form over the festive period for Rangers would spiral. Defeat to St Mirren and a draw with Motherwell meant Clement went into the new year derby 14 points behind the Hoops.

However, Clement would ease the pressure on his shoulders with a blistering 3-0 win over Celtic at Ibrox

But that result seemed like a distant memory just a week later and they drew their following two matches against Hibs and Dundee.

February final straw for fans and Rangers board

Further poor results in February would prove to be the final straw for Clement at Ibrox.

Despite qualifying directly for the last-16 of the Europa League by finishing in the top eight of the league phase, this achievement was quickly overshadowed by one the of worst results in the club’s history.

Championship Queen’s Park rocked up at Ibrox and left with a historic 1-0 win in what will go down as one of the biggest shocks in Scottish football history.

The writing then seemed to be on the wall for Clement after that with any chance of domestic silverware all but dead and buried.

He hung in there for another two weeks but his tenure was brought to an end with a 2-0 defeat to St Mirren at Ibrox on Saturday.