Philippe Clement called delusional after Celtic go 9 points clear

It is starting to look like a familiar story for the Rangers. A manager comes in, does well his first few months for the club, gets hailed as the one to overcome Celtic and then it all falls apart at Ibrox like a house of cards. It happened to Giovanni van Bronckhorst and Mick Beale. Now, Philippe Clement might be headed for the exit door.

In midweek, the Rangers lost 2-1 to Aberdeen. The result meant that they are now nine points behind Celtic in the table. Just for context, they are closer to 8th placed Ross County than to the Hoops.

Celtic do have a title race on their hands but it is Aberdeen who are proving to be the contenders. The Dons have the same number of points and have proven their mettle, not just by defeating the Rangers but also by coming back from two goals down at Parkhead to earn a 2-2 draw.

Amazingly, Clement went on to describe the Rangers' display against Aberdeen as one of their better performances this season. It goes without saying that those comments have not gone down well with many.

Philippe Clement called delusional after Celtic go 9 points clear

As reported by Glasgow World, Kris Boyd said:

"It’s just excuses, the longer this goes on, the more excuses come out, they’ve lost three of the opening 10 and it’s not good enough."

On the other hand, Chris Sutton viewed them as delusional:

"It’s not embarrassing from Big Phil – well, it is embarrassing – but it’s more delusion. What is he talking about?"

It would be an understatement to say that the Rangers have not been good enough this season. Yet, Clement seems to be searching for positives in a situation where there are barely none. Remember the talk about shots on target after the last Glasgow Derby?

It does feel like the majority of the Rangers fans have given up on Clement already. And when that happens at Ibrox, rarely does a manager end up remaining in the job for much longer, even if they were handed a long-term contract extension just months ago.