‘Talk of protests and storming training ground’ ‘I have never been this depressed’ ‘Worse off than last summer’ Ibrox fans react to latest humiliation

Ibrox fans had their worst fears and more confirmed at Murrayfield as Phil Clement’s side slumped to the meekest of defeats to Manchester United.

Erik Ten Hag kept his big hitters well away from the home of Scottish Rugby, it was fringe men in the first half then youths after the break while A Proper Football Manager gave his top team 73 minutes. That top team included Ben Davies, Cyriel Dessers and Scott Wright.

After promises of a summer Revolution! and clear out the only new signings starting yesterday were Connor Barron and Jefte.

The Brazilian tipped for a move to Real Madrid looked every inch a Competition Winner, even alongside Ben Davies in defence Jefte looked miles off it.

It didn’t take Manchester United long to channel all of their efforts down the right flank, former Ibrox flop Amad Dialo had a field day, it was the complete opposite of his memorable disappearing act at Celtic Park on 2 February 2022.

Jefte performed like the sort of player St Johnstone or Motherwell would sign, strip away Brazilian star and there is a bang average player there. Think Tavernier without the free kicks, penalties, corners and throw-ins.

The performances on the park are so bad that they are being compared with the failings in the boardroom. That is the board that has appointed new managers in autumn 2021, 2022 and 2023 with a variety of backroom teams, Directors of Football, Sporting Directors with the clutter showing up every month on the pay roll.

After getting a bounce out of players sickened by listening to Micky Beale springtime saw the return to the norm with SPFL defeats from Motherwell, Ross County and Celtic proving fatal with further points dropped in draws with Dundee and Hearts.

There is a real weariness about the squad which now seems matched by Clement’s attitude as he discovers the reality of Beale’s handover.

Last weekend he was singing like a Canary about the lack of money, being unable to shift players on, the deception of the Ibrox board in his job description, fears for the Champions League qualifiers and being unable to be reunited with his distant son- Abdalah Sima.

There were four days of devastating quotes from Clement with yesterday post match the opportunity to clear things up.

Bizarrely Alex Rae was put up for media duty with the excuse being that the team manager had left in a rush to attend a wedding reception in Belgium.

Even with Dave Murray’s private jet purring on the runway at nearby Edinburgh Airport Clement wouldn’t have been in Brussels much before 9pm, just as well he’d be the life and soul of the party with a former Super Scoreboard pundit dishing out the post match cliches and excuses.