Billy Dodds: League Cup Victory Crucial for Philippe Clement’s Future and Fan Support

Billy Dodds, a former Rangers striker and Sportsound pundit, suggests that Philippe Clement’s position as Rangers manager is secure as long as positive results continue. However, Dodds asserts that Clement must secure the League Cup trophy to re-engage the Rangers fanbase. Dodds further characterized the mood at Ibrox as “getting close to toxic”. On Sunday at Hampden Park, Rangers encountered widespread boos at half-time, having been 1-0 down against Motherwell, before reversing their fortunes in the second half. During an appearance on Radio Scotland, Dodds stated: “The board are probably doing the right thing in terms of giving them a bit of breathing space, but along with that has got to come results. “You get the feeling if they go away to Olympiakos and they lose that game and anything goes wrong against Hearts, you get the feeling the board won’t give him that breathing space – just because of where the fans are.”” Dodds further elaborated, stating: “The fans are turning, it’s getting close to toxic,” adding, “We’ll not be talking like this if Rangers keep getting results. But if something goes wrong, I think that atmosphere will come back and I would worry for Philippe Clement if that happens.”” Clement, a Belgian, has only secured one piece of silverware for Rangers to date: last season’s League Cup, achieved by defeating Aberdeen 1-0 in the final. Nevertheless, he has not yet recorded a victory against Celtic during his tenure as Rangers boss. Dodds concluded: “That’s the kind of thing that’s going to have to happen if they’re going to turn around a fair percentage of the fans,” continuing, “It’s going to take results ticking along before that final and then going on to win it for something astronomical to happen – like the fans to really buy back into it because they are on the edge.”You heard them, everybody who was there or even listening to TV or radio, heard the reaction. It was borderline toxic. To turn that around is going to need a massive result, and it’s going to take a cup final win against Celtic to achieve that.” This specific type of outcome is deemed necessary to improve Philippe Clement’s prospects.