ENOUGH’S enough…I’ve had my Phil.

I’m sorry, Mr Rangers manager, but it’s time for you to go. I’ve heard all your excuses. I’ve listened to you spout nonsense after games when you seem to think folk are buttoned up the back. Yes, you’re not the only one guilty of mistakes at Ibrox. But you’re the one picking the team and sending out the players who are producing performances which are simply nowhere near good enough.

They may well get a result against Motherwell at Hampden on Sunday. But in my book that would only be papering over the cracks. No, it’s over. It’s finished. Your time is up. Trust me, Rangers supporters are sick and tired of your guff and there is now no way back. Last night at Pittodrie was the final insult for me. To describe it as one of the best performances of the season was genuinely staggering. I’m sorry, if you think that’s what the supporters want to hear when their team is nine points off Celtic, never mind Aberdeen, at the top of the table then you’re deluded. To talk about a toe-nail offside decision beggars belief. No-one cares. For the life of me I cannot understand why the press officers haven’t stopped you coming out with this garbage. Or maybe they have, and you have decided to ignore that advice. But then there has been so much nonsense coming out of your mouth in your media conferences.

We keep hearing about progression and players improving. About how this is a young squad and things are going to get better once they have time to settle at the club. But it’s nonsense. Good players don’t need time to bed in. Eight out of your starting line-up were already at the football club when you arrived and a few of them weren’t regulars last season. You talk about getting to the next transfer window. But you’ve already wasted an absolute fortune, so why should you be trusted with money again?

Against Aberdeen last other night, there was not one single left-footed player in the starting XI. Not one. Jefte had been playing every week and doing okay and yet for the biggest game of the season he was dropped. Explain that one to me because there was clearly no balance in the team. Against St Mirren on Sunday captain James Tavernier, John Souttar and Cyriel Dessers were ‘rested’ with the sports science department once again influencing the team. It’s just crazy. Dessers gets criticism as the striker and it’s hard to defend him at times, especially recently.

People keep telling me your job is safe because there is no-one with any authority or gumption at Ibrox to sack you. But deep down you must know that cannot be the case. Because if you don’t realise you’re in a perilous position then you’re more deluded than I thought. What is true is that the lack of leadership in the boardroom is staggering. I feel sorry for John Gilligan, who has stepped up as acting chairman. He’s a true Rangers man and he’ll be hurting at this sorry situation. Just wait, Dave King will no doubt come out shortly and try again to drive his agenda to get back involved. But he’s another one whose time is up.

I would also like to know how someone like Nils Koppen managed to manoeuvre his way from being a scout to head of recruitment at Rangers. This is a guy with ZERO credentials for that job and yet he seems to be the one calling the shots on transfers. That’s something that I find baffling. There have been transfers done in the last couple of windows that have left me scratching my head. To pay £1.8m for Hamza Igamane is just incredible. With very little finances to spend, you can’t afford to take gambles. The supporters are seeing through all this now and that’s why they’re rightly up in arms. Rangers are usually fighting to get extra tickets for semi-finals. This time there are thousands available for the Motherwell game on Sunday, which says it all. Season-ticket holders are already staying away from Ibrox, it’s that bad. They aren’t seeing a team giving it’s all. For me, that’s due to the fact there are not enough people in that dressing room who know what the club is all about. When I was there we had supporters out on the pitch. We maybe weren’t the greatest team in the world but it meant something to pull on that light blue jersey. I hate to say it, but there are guys there now who are not doing enough to earn their wages. And I include staff in that. They come out time and again and talk about how they’ve let the club down and know they have to improve. Yet I’m not seeing it where it matters, out on the pitch. But ultimately the buck still stops with the manager when it comes to the way the team is playing every week. Mr Clement, the buck stops with YOU.

It would be safe to say that things are not going as the Rangers would have anticipated when they decided to hand Philippe Clement a long-term contract extension not too long ago. Just months later, they find themselves nine points behind both Celtic and Aberdeen in the Scottish Premiership title race. In fact, they are closer to eighth place Ross County than they are to the two table toppers at this point in time.

And that raises the question: How long before they give up on the Clement project? The Belgian manager had shown a lot of potential early on but since then, things have gone just like they did for Giovanni van Bronckhorst and Mick Beale before him. Many would argue that those two had actually done better as Rangers manager than Clement has. And as the Ibrox side continue to struggle, some of the Belgian's recent comments have amused the Celtic supporters and most probably had the opposite effect on those supporting the 'other' team in Glasgow.

Chris Sutton wrote in his column in the Daily Record about Clement: "They have the Belgian Beale in charge. I can’t believe quite how off the rails the manager has gone. After his first few months there were positive signs. He secured a trophy and spoke a lot of sense. After the nonsense of Michael Beale, they looked to have a sensible, serious operator in charge. They now have a Belgian waffler who is spouting the kind of gibberish that Pedro Caixinha came out with. The warning signs were there last year with his ‘moral victory’ against Celtic and it’s got worse and worse."

One would think that the Rangers would already be looking at replacements for Clement. Showing him the exit door might not be the easiest decision to make though. Recently, the Rangers announced a net loss of £17 million for the year to June 2024. And one would think that if they parted ways with Clement after handing him a new deal until the summer of 2028 in August, they would have to shell out a decent severance package. Are they in a position to do that if that was indeed the case?

For the time being, it looks like the Rangers are ready to stick with Clement. Otherwise, he would have been shown the exit door after the defeat to Aberdeen.

Aberdeen’s incredible start to the season under new manager Jimmy Thelin reached its pinnacle on Wednesday night when they beat Rangers. There was a magnificent atmosphere at Pittodrie as the Dons extended their unbeaten record under Thelin to 16 games since his appointment in the summer. Impressively, Aberdeen have won 15 of those encounters with their only draw arriving at the home of the champions, Celtic.

After ten league games, Celtic and Aberdeen are level on 28 points at the Scottish Premiership summit with Brendan Rodgers’ men leading the way on goal difference. Thelin’s men, however, moved nine points clear of rivals Rangers after condemning them to defeat with discontent reaching fever pitch at Ibrox. The Old Firm’s duopoly of Scottish football has lasted almost 40 years with Aberdeen famously the last club outside Glasgow to win the top-flight title under Sir Alex Ferguson in 1985. But could Thelim emulate the legendary Scottish manager's achievements?

It’s impossible to downplay how momentous Thelin’s impact has been since arriving from Swedish side Elfsborg, especially when you factor in Aberdeen’s struggles last season. Aberdeen failed to make the top six before the split, finishing in seventh place as they picked up 1.26 points per game in the league - compared to 2.8 this season. As the graphic below illustrates, Aberdeen’s 28 points from their opening ten league games is a joint-record - based on statistics that go back until the 1997/98 season.

The Dons are the only side outside the Old Firm to have amassed that many points with Rangers managing it once and Celtic four teams, including this season. Furthermore, Neil Lennon is the only manager to collect more points (30) in their first ten games in the Scottish top-flight than Thelin. Lennon won his first ten league games as Celtic boss after being appointed interim manager in March 2010 and he eventually inherited the job on a permanent basis. Michael Beale and Philippe Clement both picked up 28 points in their first ten games as Rangers boss, as did Rodgers and Martin O’Neill at Celtic.

So what are the realistic ambitions for Aberdeen this season? Transfermarkt spoke to Ryan Crombie, from Aberdeen fanzine Red Point of View and asked what the target amongst the fanbase is. "Not even the most ardent of Dons fans would have expected this start to the season," Crombie admitted. "However, 'stay humble' is Thelin’s motto and the Red Army are buying into it. Finishing 3rd was the aim at the start of the season and it will remain so even now. It’s almost surreal the gap Aberdeen have opened up on 4th place after only 10 games, but now after the result against Rangers it should be a realistic target to go and try to finish 2nd, which will still be difficult.

Crombie continued: "Taking European football out of the equation, the thing Aberdeen fans want to see most is trophies, and if Thelin can deliver one within his first season, the season would be seen as a resounding success. Thelin has said multiple times that this is a project that will take several years. If this is only the beginning, Aberdeen fans can’t wait to see what the finished article will look like…Thelin hasn’t pitched up in Scotland just to take part, he’s come in with a purpose and he’s here to win. So far, his Aberdeen team are doing just that."

The biggest factor behind the Old Firm’s dominance over Scottish football over the last four decades ultimately comes down to finances. The financial gulf between the two Glasgow giants and the rest of Scottish football is enormous, which further highlights how impressive Thelin’s impact has been. The accusations during Aberdeen’s excellent start was they hadn’t faced the Old Firm but they’ve now drawn at Celtic Park and beat Rangers at Pittodrie. Rangers and Celtic have a gargantuan budget compared to Aberdeen yet Thelin’s men have been able to keep pace. 

The graphic above highlights the biggest issue in Scottish football and the financial disparity between the Old Firm and Aberdeen. The Dons have successfully been able to sell players - Bojan Mioski, Calvin Ramsay and Scott McKenna - for substantial profits across recent seasons but they simply can’t match Celtic and Rangers’ spending power. Aberdeen haven't spent more than €2m across the last five windows which is less than 10x what Celtic have spent in every window across that time period. It remains unlikely that Thelin will lead Aberdeen to the title given the strength of Celtic's squad but finishing ahead of Rangers is a realistic prospect and will ensure European football next season.