Like Trump and Kamala, Clement has two weeks to prove he's not just another also-ran
As the battle for Presidential votes gains intensity on the other side of the Atlantic, Philippe Clement’s fight for the hearts and minds of Rangers supporters has never felt more arduous.
One year after winning the approval of the Ibrox board in a landslide, the Belgian’s rating has tumbled in his own constituency.
A season that promised so much has been punctuated by calamity. Coming the day after Celtic and Aberdeen opened the door with a draw at Parkhead, Sunday’s loss at Kilmarnock was the equivalent of the Belgian tripping over a threshold on the hustings.
It wasn’t just the loss in Ayrshire that drew the ire of visiting supporters at full-time. It was the manner of it.
Promised tangible signs of improvement by the manager at this juncture, a passive, one-paced surrender was not what anyone had in mind.
Twelve months on from Michael Beale being sacked after failing to progress the side he inherited from Giovanni van Bronckhorst, many in the red, white and blue party are questioning why Clement should be treated any differently.
Clement needs to prove his worth over next fortnight or his reign could be over
The Rangers manager insists his team are on right track but he remains under pressure
The Rangers players prepare for their Europa League clash with Steaua Bucharest
While a lack of leadership at all levels in the club is one theory, no manager - not even one who recently signed a new contract through to 2028 - can survive such staccato form indefinitely.
In the two weeks before America decides, Clement’s side face Steaua Bucharest, St Mirren, Aberdeen and Motherwell - the latter in the League Cup semi-final.
If there aren’t tangible signs of improvement throughout that period, recent history suggests it won’t just be 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue that will witness change.
‘Of course the fans are not happy now,’ said Clement. ‘They were happy after Malmo (a 2-0 win in Sweden), for example, so it goes up and down.
‘It’s about creating consistency and momentum again with the results, then doing the right things in the club to create stability towards the outside.
‘So, everybody needs to work hard to get that in the next weeks and months to come.’
For long-suffering supporters, events surrounding the changing of the clocks in autumn are becoming wearily familiarly.
Three years ago, Steven Gerrard got as far as the November of his fourth season, then jumped at the chance of moving to Aston Villa.
Despite winning the Scottish Cup and reaching the Europa League final, Van Bronckhorst was invited to clear his desk 12 months later.
Beale, the popular choice after returning to Ibrox with van Bronckhorst under mounting pressure, didn’t even make it to the year mark. Clement passed that milestone last week, albeit to no fanfare.
Criticism of this rinse-repeat cycle and an acknowledgement of the damage it does seems sensible in high summer. Not so much after a thoroughly desperate day in Ayrshire.
Those who reserve the right to change their minds are right to ask the man at the helm when - if ever - his promise of progress will materialise.
‘Those are good questions for everybody who’s never been a manager or a player,’ added Clement.
‘Because there are so many circumstances that you don’t have under control that you cannot say that.
‘There are players who come to a team and, from the first day, they feel good. There are other players who need three months. There are players who need six months.
‘They are human beings. Those are not machines. So, you can ask these questions and I understand and everybody does all over the world. There’s not one manager in the world who can say that for any transfer in that way.
‘We did a lot. We had to do a lot also because of the circumstances. So, it’s about working hard with the players, with the staff to get the players as fast as possible into their best form, feeling good in the club, getting the connections together on the pitch, learning how to play together.
‘There are so, so many things to do and it’s just a small part of all the list that needs to be done. That takes time. But is there somebody who can predict how fast that goes? No.’
The trouble for Clement is that the case against him didn’t just begin on the first day of this season when his team drew a blank at Tynecastle.
After a commendable start to his tenure, which saw Rangers win the League Cup, the blunt truth is that the rot began to set in when they lost at home to Motherwell on March 2.
Even allowing for personnel changes this summer, the demise over a seven-month period has been marked.
‘People who are not happy now, they were probably happy, really happy, with me six months ago, nine months ago,’ he shrugged.
‘I am still the same man. I’m working even harder than I did at that moment because there are much more things to be done, not only on the sporting side but also on the non-sporting side in the club.
“I’m throwing myself on all those things because I engage myself in that way in the summer and before the summer, in all those talks, because I believe so much in this club and the potential it can have for the future and to bring it back where it was before.”
You would never question his commitment or understate the scale of the task he’s undertaken.
But when the style of play is so hard to define and the results and performances have no consistency, it’s only natural to question if he’ll ever turn this tanker around.
He said: ‘We spoke about - and I don’t want to repeat it too much - about a big rebuild in many ways, about cutting wages to make the club sustainable for now and the future because there were decisions made in the past, before the time that I was here.
Jack Butland is put through his paces before the European game
Captain James Tavernier, right, speaks to Dujon Sterling ahead of the Europa League clash
Clement and assistant Stephan Van Der Heyden keep a close eye on training
‘So, I stepped into that story after long talks for the long term, and also (committed) to making long-term decisions together with the squad, together with the board towards that for the future.
‘So, we are working really hard with the players, everybody in the staff to make it as fast as possible back at the level that this club was maybe 12, 15 years ago.
‘That takes time and we’re going to work hard on that. It’s a process you need to follow.’
John Bennett, the chairman who handed him a new contract, is no longer involved. John Gilligan, who’s stepped into the breach, would clearly like nothing more than for the faith of his predecessor to be justified.
With public opinion turning against him, though, Clement can only hope he retains the votes of those figures at the club who truly count.
‘Everybody who did this job or has worked in football knows that to rebuild - cutting wages and making the club sustainable and investing in young players for now and for the future - it takes time,’ Clement added.
‘You cannot do that in one, two, three months. That’s impossible.
‘We talked a lot about that last season and all the fans were behind the story.
‘I didn’t go in the hype that moment or in the Harry Potter stories in that moment. So, I don’t go in the drama also now. There is a big space in between and we’re in that space in between.’
