Rangers manager Philippe Clement needs this trophy to offer supporters hope that things may be about to change
Philippe Clement will be motivated to win Saturday's final against their cross-city rivals not least to placate angry Rangers fans. Jane Barlow/PAin a Scottish Cup final is about as remarkable as Thursday following Wednesday has not been paying attention. A Rangers victory via the odd goal in five from a Hampden epic in 2002 marks the last time the Old Firm squared off in Scottish football’s showpiece occasion. The noisy neighbours will be belatedly reunited on Saturday.
Rangers can point to their financial implosion in 2012 as a mitigating factor but their silverware return while still carrying by far the second-biggest budget in Scotland has been awful. When Rangers’ operating costs rose above Celtic’s in 2022-23, excuses had run out for all bar the blinkered. No club in world football preaches about the importance of winning, while simultaneously falling short, more than Rangers. For Celtic, this has become a dream rivalry.
Had Beale, not Clement, reflected on “moral victory” after a 3-3 draw with Celtic in April, he would have been ridiculed. Rangers finished eight points behind Celtic, which made a mockery of Clement’s insistence that the gap between the sides had been narrowed since he took charge in October. There is a case to be made that Rangers are not much better off in football terms than when Giovanni van Bronckhorst was sacked in late 2022. This is a team that flatter to deceive.
The Celtic manager — not one to miss an opportunity to curry favour — was lauding his club’s support for the latest time shortly before the same group were embarrassing themselves in Glasgow city centre during title “celebrations” last weekend. Nobody expressed louder disgust over Celtic stuttering earlier in the season than the same fans. Joe Hart, nothing more than a decent Celtic goalkeeper, has been heralded as some kind of modern-day icon as he edges towards retirement.
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