After 10 days of sympathy and two statements pointing at the darkest of conspiracies following defeat in the League Cup Final it was back to reality for Phil Clement against St Mirren.
Celtic’s 0-0 draw at Dundee United on Sunday had cut the gap at the top down to just six points for most bears, win the two remaining O** F***s and Clement’s exciting young side could deny Selik of #title55.
That was the thinking of from the hard of thinking as the merging of social/fan media and old school legacy titles like the BBC, Daily Record, Herald and STV sang out in unison
The crimes orchestrated by the darkest of dark forces and carried out by Franky Connor would prove the catalyst for a remarkable title success. Clement would indeed prove to the world that he was A Proper Football Manager.
After all, following the travesty at Hampden the whole of Europe was talking of nothing else. The injustice and outrage, justice needed served and seen to be served.
Fans all over the continent switched over from the Manchester Derby to watch the match at Hampden as Clement and his players were denied the trophy they so richly deserved.
There was nothing else discussed all week across Milan, Munich and Madrid. Pushed on the issue big Phil admitted that he got a couple of text messages from Brugge and Monaco, his former clubs.
🔵 “All of Europe has been talking about what happened in this final and that’s a pity”.
Philippe Clement says the non-award of a penalty in Rangers’ League Cup final defeat to Celtic is a ‘really bad’ advert for the Scottish game ⬇️https://t.co/ybgjuIibwm
— Clyde 1 Superscoreboard (@ClydeSSB) December 20, 2024
Clement and the obliging media all bought into the travesty of Hampden, fuelled further by Connor being back in action, running the line at SPFL Premiership matches on December 26 and 29.
Unfortunately for the Belgian waffler he was unable to harness the anger from Hampden into a two match winning run, after beating Dundee 1-0 a trip to Paisley proved just too much for the stars lined up behind James Tavernier in the tunnel at the SMISA Stadium.
When Tav is your inspirational leader you are already playing with a handicap.
When Jack Butland is vice-captain, the media darling that has soothing quotes for every occasion and an ego in inverse proportion to his ability you are in deep, deep trouble.
Butland was at fault for the first St Mirren goal, chasing personal glory at the other end of the park Tavernier was posted missing at the second goal, three minutes into injury time that left the former Wigan ace bitterly disappointed.
Next up for big Phil is a trip to Motherwell on Sunday before Scotland’s Most Successful Club first foot at Ibrox on January 2.
With new CEO Paddy Stewart watching yesterday’s capitulation time is running out on Clement with a spending freeze expected to be applied next month.
With Leon Balogun joining John Souttar and Neraysho Kasanwirjo on the sidelines through injury it seems that Clement can’t even manage minutes
Fortunately for Phil no-one in Europe really cares about what happens in Scottish football, they just note Celtic winning trophies and breaking records.
It shouldn’t take Clement’s agents too long to fix him up with a middle of the road Belgian side to match his managerial ability with.
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