Great Expectations

Great Expectations.

“It was one of those March days when the sun shines hot and the wind blows cold; when it is summer in the light and winter in the shade.”

So wrote Dickens in the novel which shares the title of this – admittedly far shoddier – piece of prose. On initial inspection he is, with beautiful simplicity, capturing the transitory nature of spring when the seasons collide; however, inevitably a figurative reading is available.

Here, Dickens alludes to the duality which exists in all human experience. Our joys tempered with fears. Our lightness shaded by dark. The hope of summer tarnished by reminders of the chilling severity of winter.

Or he could just be describing the weather…

Presumably, you didn’t come here for literary criticism so I’ll get to the point.

It feels like, as a support, we have struggled to come to terms with this notional duality, in which two positions can be simultaneously true. It is a volatile place to be. Our tension is that we are torn between the hope borne of a new directionand the lingering doubts of the long cold winter we have all suffered over the past few years. There is a cognitive dissonance, a polarisation of positions.

In other words, it had become sugar or shite. Then Kilmarnock happened.

For transparency, I must admit that I have played my own part in this. Reacting to a post about Clement on X, I hastily wrote the following: ‘This is the guy. I keep hearing that he won’t get time; that it’s not the reality. Well, maybe the ‘reality’ needs to shift. Maybe expectations (in the short term) need to shift. “Aye but Rangers need to win.” On our current (sic) path we’ve won next to fuck all. Proper reset required.’

Not a perfect (or classy) tweet, I’ll admit and certainly one which nailed my colours to the positivity mast. What it failedto do, however, is to reflect any nuance regarding our current situation. Now, in my defence, Twitter/X/whatever is neither known for, nor conducive to, finesse or subtlety, but given the nature of this piece I thought it best to highlight my own hypocrisy.

Here’s where I’ve come to on this: we don’t need to pick a side. It is perfectly valid to question the progress of the team whilst believing it will eventually be made. It’s fine to question the manager but still think him the right fit for the job in the longer term. Our doubts don’t necessarily require us to launch the bathwater and the baby. It is difficult to imagine football fans not being reactionary but it easy to understand why most of us are.

However, the problem Clement currently has that the number of supporters who had bought into the longer term plan are dwindling quite dramatically.

So what is it reasonable to expect? Can we shift, at least in the short term, our expectations for the promise of something better? Probably not. The ‘model’ employed over the past few years has provided very limited success at huge cost. Is it not then rational to accept some disruption during such a period of transition? Perhaps the issue is that reason, rationality and Rangers are often uncomfortable bedfellows.

The discourse on this subject becomes especially tricky when we don’t make the distinction between expectations and standards. Expectations, as we know all too well from last season, are fluid. Such is the nature of sport. Summer business brought hope, the preseason games concern and by the time Beale was gone I doubt whether any of us would have expected anything other more than a nominal challenge domestically and in Europe.  

Standards are another matter; these can never diminish.

We are a young team. We should expect dips in form and unexceptional performances. We ought to expect some tough nights in Europe, uncomfortable as they might be. What we cannot accept is the ongoing malaise on the pitch when, even whilst winning, we look adequate at best.

Crucially, we should also expect excellence from the management team and in the boardroom and always challenge them when these standards are not met. Unfortunately, at the moment our boardroom is made up of empty chairs so when things go wrong, all is directed to the touchline.

As much as I would like to trust the process, the manager is making life very difficult for himself. Following the debacle at the weekend it has become increasingly challenging for anyone to construct a coherent argument in his favour. He persists with players who are incapable of performing effectively in the system to which he seems welded. We look weak. We look slow and predictable. We resemble a side who are easy to combat. It does not make for good viewing.

His inflexibility on the pitch is mirrored in the commentary he provides in the media. Our players are not ‘just in the building’ anymore. They should not be getting to know each other. The players and staff might very well be ‘working very hard to improve’ but unless the fruits of this labour become visible, he cannot continue to trot out what have quickly become tired clichés which none of us need to hear.

You don’t have to be Einstein to realise that repeating the same process and expecting different results leads to madness.

Many have Clement out now, some if we lose at Pittodrie. These are entrenched positions and will be become utterlyimmovable should progress not arrive in short order. If he is to get the time that he needs, he must give us something – anything - onto which we can grab. Dark roads are more comfortably negotiated when we can occasionally glimpse the destination.

I’ll leave you with the more accomplished writer earlier met. Whether Clement lasts or not, it is to be hoped that that we as a club can come to a similar conclusion.

“Suffering has been stronger than all other teaching, and has taught me to understand… I have been bent and broken, but – I hope – into better shape.”

Robin Erskine