Chris Boyd has downplayed Philip Clement’s future prospects as Rangers boss, insisting a change is needed after the club fell further behind Celtic in the Scottish Championship.
Rangers’ miserable away run continued on Thursday with a 1-1 draw against Dundee which left them 15 points adrift of their rivals at the top of the table.
They started the game at Dens Park with just three wins in 10 league matches away from Ibrox and failed to turn around to improve that record after Vaclav Cerny canceled out Oluaseun Adewumi’s opener after a goalless second half.
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Dundee v Rangers Scottish Premier League highlights.
The result provided more ammunition for those who believe Clement’s time at Ibrox should be over, with the club’s away fans showing their displeasure at the full-time whistle.
“It’s just excuse after excuse,” former Rangers forward Boyd said Sky Sports. “Rangers have got the squad to come here and wipe the floor with Dundee but they’re still hanging on.
“13 points away from home is a disgrace. You can talk about progress, but you talk about fatigue and low confidence. You absolutely destroyed Celtic a week ago, you destroyed them.
“And you struggle for confidence. You lose two, draw and lose before the Celtic game.
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Rangers manager Philip Clement reacts to 1-1 draw with Dundee under pressure from fans.
“And now you’ve drawn two games after that and there’s a lack of confidence in them. It just doesn’t make sense.
“I just look at the club right now and it’s broken. There’s no pattern to the game, there’s nothing. You always see Celtic playing as Rangers’ best game this season.
“But it can’t just be a one-off, we know that. It’s an absolute disgrace that Rangers are in this position.
Rangers’ Hamza Igamane responds to Dundee’s opener
“And you see that you didn’t spend money, it was spent, yes, there was a reduction in spending, but it was spent.
“There’s no improvement, we talked about the injuries getting better, I mean it’s actually worse.
“You can talk about moving players and playing extra minutes. You’re a footballer. That’s what you get paid for, playing minutes.
“There is no progress at all, it’s done.
“Now it’s over with (Rangers chief executive) Patrick Stewart because I’m telling you right now that’s the last two away games we’ve been in.
“Those fans have had enough and it will get to the stage where they will stop coming to games and then you will see the real problems start to materialize for Rangers because this cannot continue.”
Sutton: Brendan cracks open champagne
Dundee’s Oluasew Adewumi celebrates after scoring
Chris Sutton on Sky Sports.
“Philip Clement has to take responsibility, but it’s also the players on the pitch who have the knowledge and understanding of how to win games.
“You look at the Rangers team and think: I have said before that there is a losing mentality at the club and nothing has really changed.
“It’s been going on for years and years. And you look at how obscene that performance was tonight. Celtic are laughing at them.
Rangers conceded first at Dens Park
“Brendan Rodgers, he’ll crack open the champagne and laugh at them tonight. It’s a shame we’re at the start of January and Celtic are 15 points up. It’s shocking and amazing.”
“We were talking before the game and Chris (Boyd) and I thought that Philip Clement should have left a long time ago. But they are at a crossroads now, can the club continue to go down like this?
“And so are we looking at that or is Patrick Stewart going to look at the bigger picture and not just one game against Celtic where they raise their game or, you know, the odd game in Europe?
“Clement will come out and talk about Celtic’s bigger budget, but Rangers shouldn’t drop 19 points to sides with much, much smaller budgets than them and he never mentions that.
“We hear the excuses every week. And it’s not good enough. And it’s time for him to take ownership, but he won’t.”
“But this Belgian waffle will go on and on and on. It won’t stop until it’s decided.”
Clement: I have “200 percent” support from the board
Philippe Clement claimed the Rangers board was behind him “200 per cent”. Asked if he was confident the board, which has a new chief executive in Patrick Stewart, was still 100 per cent behind him, the Belgian boss replied: “Yes, 200 percent.
“We talk about everything every day: January, the next season, everything. Yes, of course, the fans are unhappy.
“We’re also upset, we’re all upset, to lose these three points. When we’re good, when we play good games, the fans always stick with us. So today was not a good game.
Vaclav Cerny celebrates 1-1 after scoring
“So I understand that they are unhappy with that. I know these supporters don’t give up when we show quality. It’s that we show quality on the pitch and then they always get behind the team :
“So our task is to do it as quickly as possible. It starts on Sunday to show quality again and on both sides of the game. Not only in attack but also in defence.
“Today, defensively, it was better than the last away games. Positive in that way. The game that Clinton Nsiala played in his first game for Rangers, a positive point.
“But in the end it’s about the results, of course. A lot of points have been dropped in the last two or three weeks.”
