Tam McManus: Philippe Clement would have Rangers well clear under Americans after wage bill drama

Philippe Clement would have Rangers well clear at the top of the Scottish Premiership this season, Tam McManus believes.

After Clement was sacked last season, Barry Ferguson finished the year in interim charge before Andrew Cavenagh and the 49ers Enterprises completed their takeover and appointed Russell Martin.

That couldn’t have gone much worse at Ibrox.

Martin was sacked after a shocking start to the season, which left Rangers 13 points adrift of the Scottish Premiership top spot.

Danny Rohl was then appointed and has since cut that gap to one point with six games to go, but McManus believes it would have been much different with Clement in charge.

Philippe Clement would be close to Scottish Premiership title

Clement is currently at Norwich City after taking a long break, and he has turned the Canaries into one of the form teams in England, despite starting in the Championship relegation zone.

McManus has been impressed with his time at Carrow Road, and insists that if the new American owners were in place earlier and gave him the same budget as Martin, rather than cutting their wage bill, they’d be well clear.

“Right manager at the wrong time for Rangers, this guy,” he wrote.

“If Rangers had the new ownership in place and given him the dough they gave Martin (instead of cutting the wage bill), I think Rangers would be well clear this season.

“Doing some job at Norwich.”

Rangers rollercoaster year of managers

Going from Clement to Ferguson, and then Martin to Rohl, Rangers have messed around royally looking to find the right combination.

The truth is, each end of that scale is the right call.

Clement did win a Scottish League Cup, but the collapse against Queen’s Park and not going further in the league held him back in the end.

Martin isn’t even worth talking about, given the fact that his points-per-match total was at 1.24, shocking for a full-time Rangers manager.

Rohl has completely turned things around at Ibrox, and the same could be said about him that if he were in charge from the summer, Rangers would likely be clear at the top given the turnaround.

Only losing one of 24 Scottish Premiership matches with 17 wins, the German has been sensational and with further backing in the summer, he is ready to dominate for years to come.

Updated 24/7 with expert analysis from the heart of Govan.