Philippe Clement is past the point of no return at Rangers as he enters the dogs and caravan stage – Chris Sutton

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One of the big questions at Rangers right now is whether or not they can afford to get rid of Philippe Clement.

But that is looking at it the wrong way. The real question is, can they afford to let him remain in charge? The Ibrox club’s dire financial figures hogged the headlines for a day until events on the Pittodrie pitch surpassed them. And it does now look like Rangers are past the point of return with their manager.

Look, no one likes seeing anyone lose their job. But you’ve got to wonder how bad it has to get before someone – anyone – at Ibrox makes a big decision. We keep hearing Clement and his players saying they can still compete for the title. Right now it’s hard to see them even competing for second. The club is not in great shape off the park right now with no permanent chairman, no chief executive and no director of football.

There’s no money either. But those are no excuse to what’s being served up by Clement and his side. I’ve actually got some sympathy for the Rangers board. They keep making losses, but it’s their own money they are blowing and they are seemingly willing to keep shovelling it in.

There’s been so much wasted though – and not a single bit of progress. They deserve better – as do Rangers fans. You look at where they were a year ago. There was an initial bounce under Clement but they ran out of steam and now?

They have the Belgian Beale in charge. I can’t believe quite how off the rails the manager has gone. After his first few months there were positive signs. He secured a trophy and spoke a lot of sense. After the nonsense of Michael Beale, they looked to have a sensible, serious operator in charge.

They now have a Belgian waffler who is spouting the kind of gibberish that Pedro Caixinha came out with. The warning signs were there last year with his ‘moral victory’ against Celtic and it’s got worse and worse.

There was the ‘biggest win in four years’ after beating the mighty Ross County. The shots on goal trophy after getting thumped by Celtic. The hurling the boards at Hampden to celebrate after squeezing past St Johnstone. The can-can in the Ibrox press room, the constant promise of jam tomorrow. His post match interview on Sky the other night was the final straw.

Describing the deserved defeat to Aberdeen as one of the better displays of the season will have had fans fuming. We’re at the Pedro dogs and caravans stage. I don’t know what game he was watching. Better? Rangers are atrocious in the first half of a game they needed to win. Clement also said at the start of the season we’d see the real Rangers in October.

Well, it’s nearly November and if anything they are getting worse. The decisions on the pitch have been as bad as the comments off it. I still can’t fathom why he was handed a contract extension in the summer. There was absolutely no need – and it didn’t look earned at that stage. It was madness.

But the move put him in a position of power and whether he spent a lot or not, he still had the major say over signings. The recruitment has simply not been good enough. Even the ones who do look half decent are not getting used properly. Look at Nedim Bajrami. He was the one player who looked like he might be able to do something against the Dons.

So what does Clement do? He hooks him off. It was just bizarre. It’s been the same all season, with players playing out of position, bombed out the squad then brought back in and asked to bail him out. He signs Robin Propper to add leadership and experience – but he doesn’t look able to cope with the Scottish game. It still looks like Leon Balogun is the best centre back at the club and he must be pushing 50.

James Tavernier doesn’t look happy and while Cyriel Dessers lacks composure, he doesn’t exactly get a lot of help. For £4m plus, Mohamed Diomande should be dominating games yet I still don’t know what he brings. Connor Barron is a good little player, but he should be one for the here and now at a club like Rangers.

I know they are trying to slash the wage bill but it looks crazy getting shot of experience like John Lundstram and Connor Goldson for pennies and then spending money on replacements that are nowhere near up to the same standard.

That’s not saving dosh. It’s a false economy if anything. Yet for all the financial problems, it still goes back to the manager doing better with what he’s got – which is still a massive wage budget

There just doesn’t seem to be any sort of cohesive thought process or pattern to their play or the bigger picture. It’s alright asking people to keep the faith, but they need to see at least some sign of progress.

There are none at Rangers. A record of two wins in their last 10 away games is embarrassing and while the Malmo win was decent, when was the last time they won a big domestic game? The League Cup Final almost a year ago? It’s not good enough.

When I first came to Scotland, as a Celtic player I didn’t like Rangers.

But I sure as hell respected them. They were a strong team, with quality players. In the past they had stars like Brian Laudrup, Paul Gascoigne, going back to Terry Butcher, Trevor Stephen, Ally McCoist… Fans from that era must look at this current shambles and struggle to even recognise their club.

I certainly don’t. They way they are going on and off the pitch, they are in danger of becoming an irrelevance.

There are huge questions right now about Rangers from top to bottom but the one about the manager has an easy answer – even if those in charge don’t want to see it.

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