Philippe Clement has been pretty clear that change is on the horizon for Rangers this summer.
The Belgian manager has been in the Ibrox hotseat for nine months and in that space of time he’s overseen a resurgence and collapse which is all to familiar to Rangers supporters.
Ever since Steven Gerrard jumped ship to Aston Villa, Rangers have been caught in a vicious cycle of managerial change bounces and then devastating end of season collapse.
Giovanni van Bronckhorst and Michael Beale paid the price for a core of players who quite simply couldn’t do it when it came to the crunch.
Philippe Clement would be wise not to make the same mistakes.
But as the Rangers manager looks to break the cycle at the end of a rather big revolution for the club, there is one decision which will show every supporter that Clement means business.
For the good of the club, it’s time to change the Rangers captain.
Clement: Rangers at end of ‘cycle’
Philippe Clement told journalists ahead of the weekend’s 3-3 draw with Hearts that Rangers are coming to the end of a cycle.
Also confirming that changes are coming down the line, the Rangers manager urged his current crop to end this Ibrox revolution with victory in the Scottish Cup Final at Hampden this weekend.
“There will be changes but what is significant?” Clement said.
“There will be changes, we need changes also. I think we are as a club at some ways at the end of a cycle so we need to change some things. And I want to end this cycle with a really big moment next week to end the cycle in a good way.”
As far as what that means, Rangers fans can safely say that the majority of the six players out of contract in the summer look increasingly likely to leave.
Fabio Silva’s loan deal with Wolves is also set to roll to an end, whilst discussions are ongoing with Abdallah Sima and Oscar Cortes about either extending their loans or completing permanent deals.
But there remains substantial conjecture surrounding two of the squad’s most important players of the so-called cycle in club captain James Tavernier and vice-captain Connor Goldson.
Amid links to Saudi and frustration with yet another failed Premiership tilt under their on-pitch leadership, some fans have had enough.
But there is one solution that we struggle to look past if Clement is serious about breathing fresh air into the team, stands and club as a whole.
It’s time for a symbolic change of leadership and one man stands out as the obvious choice to take that Rangers captain’s armband, and the subsequent pressure it carries, from next season.
Butland an obvious choice for Rangers captain
Jack Butland has been a revelation for Rangers this season.
Indeed the summer signing has been so good that he was named the club’s Player of the Year at a recent awards dinner, and not without good reason.
Had it not been for the heroics of the England hopeful our season would’ve been dead and buried long before now and there are few candidates more suitable to lead our great club at the beginning of a new cycle.
With Premier League murmurs aplenty, and Rangers manager Philippe Clement describing the stopper as ‘indispensable’, it’s a move which would only embolden the club’s hopes of retaining the goalkeeper.
Whilst we’re aware Butland is part of the club’s so-called leadership group, handing him the captaincy is a symbolic gesture of change which supporters really are crying out for.
Don’t get it twisted either.
James Tavernier’s contribution to Rangers is legendary and he is both worthy of a Hall of Fame place and Ibrox testimonial.
Should he get it 50k Rangers fans will come out to pay homage to the Yorkshireman.
But after six years with the armband the pressure of the captaincy has become an unwelcome on pitch distraction for the 32-year-old, who was once again maligned for his performance in the 3-3 draw with Hearts.
Shifting the captaincy to Jack Butland takes the pressure off James Tavernier heading into next season and allows him to focus on playing the game on the park.
In fact we suggest that if Tavernier was not the captain, and Goldson not his vice-captain, then those passive aggressive Saudi comments you see on forums and X would not be quite as prominent.
Both players have something to contribute to Rangers and as several experienced stars leave, my gut tells me that allowing this key leadership duo to follow suit is too much, too soon.
But if Clement is serious about starting a new life cycle at Rangers, as symbolic a gesture as it might be, making Jack Butland captain is a good place to start.
Lorenzo Amoruso, a more decorated Rangers star than James Tavernier, got back to playing for a further three seasons after Barry Ferguson was given the captain’s armband in 2000.
Ferguson returned to Rangers to play under the captaincy of Stefan Klos and Fernando Ricksen.
No one player is bigger than the club and as the pressure builds, let’s see how serious Big Phil is about change.
