The art of good management is a lot more complicated than some sort of box-ticking exercise. But, that being said, Philippe Clement is beginning to make it all feel just that simple.

Stop the rot which eroded what was left of Michael Beale’s reputation? Check. Use the same players and yet manage to completely transform their form and results? Check. Eat a huge chunk out of Celtic’s lead at the top of the table? Check. Progress to the last 16 of the Europa League? Check. And win the first domestic trophy of the session? One that has eluded Rangers for more than a decade? Yep, he’s crossed that one off too.

All of which might have been easier for the other side of Glasgow’s divide to ignore had it not been happening right here, on the very doorstep that they seem so determined to make a mess of. Seriously, what happened at Hampden yesterday – as James Tavernier’s second-half winner settled the Viaplay Cup Final – certainly felt like a rather seismic shift in momentum, coming as it did, 24 hours after all hell was breaking loose again at Parkhead.

A second league defeat on the bounce means Brendan Rodgers is now firmly in Clement’s sights. And the Belgian now has the chance to take Rangers all the way to the top of the table before he dips into the January sales.

Rangers boss Philippe Clement receives warm welcome on return to Ibrox with League Cup trophy

Honestly, given the dreadfully dilapidated state this lot were in when he took over from Beale, what Clement has achieved in such a short space of time is as close to remarkable as it gets. And if there’s anyone at Celtic still in denial then now would seem like an appropriate moment to catch a grip.

There’s a genuine battle for domestic supremacy now staring them dead in the eye and all the ‘sack the boards’ in the world won’t help Rodgers to see this Rangers revival off. At a moment in time when the champions require unity and togetherness, they seem riddled with division and unable to see the damage they are doing to themselves.

Indeed, it last felt that way only a few years ago when Rangers went on to win a first title since hitting the financial skids. As they celebrated another piece of silverware yesterday, together with their supporters, Rangers looked very much like a bunch who are developing a taste for it.

Clement may have thought his weekend could hardly get any better after seeing Celtic discombobulate at home to Hearts on Saturday afternoon. But there was more good news for him before he even climbed on the team bus for the cross city trip from Auchenhowie to Mount Florida.

And it came in the shape of Todd Cantwell, who put his hand up for selection after missing Thursday’s night’s win in Seville for personal reasons. Had Cantwell not been available, Clement would have had little choice but to give Sam Lammers another starting slot as his side’s creator in chief.

And there are only so many times the same mistake can be made without eventually paying the price for it. That said, Cantwell will have arrived at the national stadium with redemption on his mind, having been mercilessly hooked by the boss at half time during the semi-final win over Hearts.

And, with all eyes on him, that was the kind of humiliating mishap the Englishman will have wanted to avoid repeating. Cantwell covered as much grass as his little legs would allow him to throughout a fairly frenetic first half.

His influence then grew stronger after the break. And with John Lundstram and Dujon Sterling doing the hard yards behind him, this trio would effectively run Aberdeen into submission.

It wasn’t pretty at times. As a matter of fact, the opening 45 minutes was something of a running skirmish even if ref Don Robertson didn’t seem to notice. The man in charge kept his cards in his top pocket until five minutes before the break when he cautioned both Lundstram and Ester Sokler, presumably for something they said in the heat of the moment.

But sticks and stones and all that. The rest of the time Robertson was only too happy to let the rough and tumble continue all around.

Lundstram was lucky to get away with one crunching early foul and Aberdeen skipper Graeme Shinnie was running about the place like a red-shirted wrecking ball. Robertson may have wanted to let the game flow but, by allowing so much to go unpunished, he also helped this final to become a scruffy, fairly unedifying affair until it all ended up spilling over into the back of Jack Butland’s net late in the second half as tempers frayed all around.

Rangers’ Rabbi Matondo celebrates with the trophy after victory against Aberdeen

The best of the first-half chances came and went in front of Aberdeen’s goal where Kelle Roos was required to pull off a smart save to keep out Abdallah Sima’s shot on the turn from the edge of the box. Little Ross McCausland, though, missed the most glaring of them, sending two almost identical headers high and wide of the keeper’s back post.

When McCausland did hit the target, five minutes before half-time, he left Roos without a hope only for the youngster’s big moment to be chopped off for Sima’s foul on Nicky Devlin a split-second earlier. All the while, big Phil was prowling around his technical area – his head protected from the swirling rain by a skip hat – looking more and more miffed with what his players were providing.

Or, more precisely, what they were not. Having watched as they dominated so much of the play, the Belgian wanted them to do something to affect the huge scoreboards at each end of the ground.

And, at the start of the second half, they almost paid for it when Devlin’s low cross from the right flashed across the six-yard box without a single taker to apply the most simple of finishing touches. But this was Aberdeen’s only real spell of the match.

And when Tavernier struck 15 minutes from time, improvising superbly to thrash a hitch-kick home, there never looked like being a way back for them.

The big question now as Celtic wobble into the festive season, is will they prove to be any more robust now that Clement is turning up the heat for Christmas.

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