On January 11 Patrick Stewart gathered in the loyal messengers to discuss the future of Phil Clement and to touch on the multitude of issues facing the Tribute Act founded by Charles Green in 2012.

Just over a week earlier there were incredible scenes of joy at Ibrox as Celtic lost 3-0 but reality quickly returned with points dropped away to Hibs and Dundee.

Within a week of losing the Glasgow Derby Celtic had increased the gap at the top of the SPFL Premiership, the task for Clement was to keep the title race alive by the time of the SPFL split after 33 matches.

There was always Europe to hang onto, and of course the Scottish Cup. Winning a trophy at Hampden in May would probably require a meaningful win over Celtic but if that could be achieved the Season Ticket holders could take some hope through the summer.

Last season’s title collapse would have resulted in the sacking of other managers at Ibrox, during the summer he was given a contract extension. No-one signs an extended deal on lesser terms.

A feeble Champions League exit to Dynamo Kiev cost the club £5m for the Play-Off stage, Celtic look like banking the best part of £50m from this season’s Champions League.

Losing 3-0 at Celtic at the start of September was excused on the grounds of having 47% possession and beating Ross County 6-0 the previous week.

Further defeats followed at Kilmarnock and Aberdeen, things were steadied again before a defeat at St Mirren followed by a draw away to Motherwell.

Stewart started work as CEO the day after losing the League Cup Final to Celtic in December. His Manchester United credentials have been trumpeted but until he gets rid of the Belgian Beale he will be part of the problem.

Discussing the position of Clement, Stewart told BBC Scotland:

I need to make some tough decisions, it comes with the role, but I am committed to making the right ones for Rangers, not just the popular ones.

We are backing Philippe at this time as a board. It’s about taking a deeper look at the issues, addressing those problems, and staying focused on building a stronger future for the club. Changing a manager isn’t a silver bullet solution.

Stewart added:

I can’t give Philippe any cast-iron guarantees. He and I have both been around football long enough to know that isn’t the case.

Equally, I’m not going to get into how many games does Philippe have to save his job, that’s not what we’re about.

We’re about helping Philippe to identify why is there the inconsistency, and let’s address that.

Stewart stuck with his promise of only making one signing during the January transfer window with Rafael Fernandes signed on loan from Lille, yesterday he lasted 60 minutes of his Scottish Cup debut.

With a contract that runs until May it looks like the young Portuguese defender will outlast the manager that agreed to his transfer.

The anger will continue today, the pundits will start to appear but until someone comes up with the best part of £5m Stewart will be stuck with a failing manager.

Looking to the future £4.5m has been committed to signing Oscar Cortes from French side Lens.

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Clement sends out fresh distress signal

Ahead of facing Queens Park in the Scottish Cup, Phil Clement has sent out another distress signal about the finances at Ibrox.

First up with the daily newspapers and broadcasters on Friday the Belgian Beale was revealing that his club couldn’t afford to bring in Lyall Cameron from Dundee despite being obliged to pay a compensation fee in the summer.

Three transfer windows ago money was being thrown around at Ibrox as if there was no tomorrow with Danilo, Sam Lammers and Cyriel Dessers costing £15m with the same amount committed on long term contracts.

Dessers and Danilo are still draining the wage bill and will be for a few more years to come while new CEO Paddy Stewart attempts to get costs down to matching turnover.

Clement is left to try and put a brave face on managing the club finances, a few times a week he has to dress up Austerity as a transformation with bang average talents like Jefte, Connor Barron and Hamza Igamane being pushed as transfer targets for Chelsea, Everton and Spurs.

This time a year ago Clement was on the brink of landing an unprecedented quadruple, like his squad the pressure of expectation became too much to cope with.

Defeats to Motherwell and Ross County either side of a Moral Victory over Celtic saw him race to the away dressing room in tears after an April defeat to Don Cowie’s side in Dingwall.

There were two real defeats to come from Celtic before the season ended that exposed the myth of Clement, just months after the drooling media coverage that acclaimed him as A Proper Football Manager.

That title may apply in comparison to Micky Beale but up against Brendan Rodgers and Oleksandr Shovkovskyi (Dynamo Kiev) the current Ibrox boss has been shown up as just another bang average boss with a neat line in excuses passed on by obliging media messengers.

Reliving last season’s losses Clement took out the violin to claim that the foundations of his house had been taken away.

If he is on the look out for sympathy he could look across the city to a manager that has lost Joe Hart, Carl Starfelt, Aaron Mooy, Matt O’Riley and Kyogo Furuhashi. Brendan Rodgers also had to do without Jota for 18 months.

Nine of the Eleven players that started last season’s Scottish Cup Final are still on the payroll, only Todd Cantwell and Fabio Silva have moved on, but that doesn’t deter Clement from rewriting the FACTS! To cover up his failings.

But a lot of the guys in the circle were away just a few weeks later. It’s difficult to use that as fuel when you’re working with a new group of players. And that’s what we need at this club, more consistency in the squad, so we can build something. You can’t start from new every time.

I’ll make a comparison with a house. You start with foundations, like we had to do this season. But it’s not a good way to build a house if you do two storeys then wipe it and start from the foundation again.

That’s really important. We need to create something now with players who experience these things together. You need these connections, the timings, the communication – verbal and non-verbal – to understand each other.

Each individual player has to know what their job is and collectively we have to move forward together now. Of course, you need a core and stability. And you need consistency to build every season.

Some clubs have done that really well and they get the benefits. It’s a major part of football.

At every club where I was successful in the past, it was always when we had two or three years together as a group. Not with all 11 in the first-team but at least with seven or eight. That’s such a critical part that can’t be under- estimated

Clement’s biggest surprise has still to come, in the summer the Season Ticket Money will be allocated to 12 months of running costs with transfer spending restricted to whatever comes in from selling serial losers.

Unless any directors want to throw more good money after bad there will be no summer spending beyond the £4.5m committed to signing Oscar Cortes.