Ex-Rangers striker Kenny Miller reckons Philippe Clement has been shortchanged by the powers that be with awards season upon us.
The former Ibrox hitman knows what it takes to go to the wire and Kenny Miller has been asking a question which has been on every Rangers fan’s lips this week.
Following the announcement of the Manager of the Year nominations, Philippe Clement’s name is absent from the final three-man shortlist.
And Miller’s asking the same thing as all of us.
Whilst John McGlynn (Falkirk), Tony Docherty (Dundee), and Derek McInnes (Kilmarnock) all deserve plaudits for their success, what if Rangers go on and win a treble?
Miller: Clement Manager of the Year snub not ‘serious’
Whilst it has always been this way, the fact the awards are finalised before the season’s final whistle proves that the set-up is deeply flawed.
Particularly when the campaign goes to the wire.
If Rangers manager Philippe Clement can overcome Celtic in the final five games of the season, a task which is admittedly no mean feat, then the transformation of the team under Michael Beale will be miraculous.
Whilst Rangers remain a long-shot in the Scottish Premiership, a cup double is also firmly within the Belgian’s grasp.
Given the mess big Phil inherited back in October, a treble would go down as one of, if not the greatest first season feat in the history of Scottish football.
And the manager of Falkirk in League One might pip Clement to an award instead.
Writing in his latest Daily Record column, Kenny Miller is asking the question and we’ve got to say, no wonder.
“Are we seriously saying that if Philippe Clement can take this Rangers team and transform them from the mess they were at the start of the season into a Treble-winning outfit that he wouldn’t deserve to land the award?” Kenny Miller asks after branding the Rangers boss the ‘real manager of the year’.
“Obviously, the big Belgian has some major work to do on that front but a clean sweep or even a cup Double would certainly rank him highly in my book.”
Rangers manager must perform miraculous
It all certainly brings into question the sensibility of the awards structure in football.
If Philippe Clement – and it’s a big IF – goes on to secure a treble then it will be the most miraculous recovery in the history of Scottish football.
But one thing that hangs over the Belgian, who has hauled Rangers into a title race despite a continually devastating record of injuries, is that run of one win in five Scottish Premiership games.
At a crucial moment in the season, this Rangers team once again bottled it and even with Clement squeezing every inch of juice out of them, the team could yet come up short.
Let it be a warning to the Rangers manager, who quite simply has got to get this summer transfer window right if he’s to survive long-term at Ibrox.
The usual suspects have let the team down time and again when it comes to the crunch.
If the Belgian wants to be in the conversation for Manager of the Year next season, the decision he takes in the months ahead will have a huge bearing.
