Rangers fans have seemingly had enough of both manager Philippe Clement and striker Cyriel Dessers, and both need to leave Ibrox as soon as possible to save the club’s season.
The Light blues were well beaten by Aberdeen on Wednesday night and now find themselves nine points behind second place in the Scottish Premiership table, with the Dons and Celtic miles clear of the Glasgow giants.
The result was bad enough, but the performance was hugely worrying with the team struggling to create chances and looking open defensively once again. In fact, performances this season have been so bad that legendary striker Kris Boyd even admitted before the game that it “wouldn’t be a surprise” to see them beaten.
Clement and Dessers Must Go
Enough is enough at Ibrox
Clement signed a new long-term contract at Ibrox in the summer as the board looked to show their backing of the Belgian following a tough period, where he failed to beat Celtic in several attempts and lost a cup final against them after taking over in mid-season from Michael Beale, while also winning the Scottish League Cup.
A crazy summer transfer window has seen several first-team players leave the club, including former vice-captain Connor Goldson, while a number of young players were brought in to replace them which has left the team some way short of quality to really challenge for the league title.
One player who is deemed to be a key member of the side is £4.5million striker Dessers, who was the team’s top scorer last season in the SPFL and currently leads the way this season in their goalscoring charts, but he has consistently fallen short of the level required.
Cyriel Dessers Rangers stats all competitions 2023/24 and 2024/25 | ||
|---|---|---|
Games | 54 | 17 |
Goals | 22 | 7 |
Assists | 9 | 3 |
Fans have regularly called for upgrades in the striker position to be brought in, while pundits such as Tam McManus have called him a “monumental waste” of money in the past too. His performance against Aberdeen in midweek was once again abysmal and way below the level needed to push the team up to where it needs to be, and now enough is enough.
Despite a new contract for Clement, it’s clear that he is not the right man to be in charge at Ibrox. The team is regressing under his leadership, there is no clear style being implemented and players are not responding to his words publicly or privately. Worse than all of that however, is that he has lost the fans, and once that happens there is usually no way back.
Dessers wasn’t his signing, but he has so far ignored any opportunity to replace him in the squad or team and that now falls on his shoulders too. The Nigeria international has become a symbol of his failed reign at Rangers, and it’s best for everyone involved that they leave at the earliest possibly convenience.
A new manager is needed to take the team in a new direction with fresh eyes and objectives, and their first task should be finding a new club for Dessers and getting a replacement in who can take Rangers back to where they want to be.
All statistics courtesy of Transfermarkt – correct as of 31/10/2024.