Rangers fans demand Philippe Clement makes this permanent Nicolas Raskin call as he earns Hall of Fame legend comparison

01/03/2025 11:00 AM

James Tavernier has long been considered as the face of Rangers failure with nearly a decade of seeing the noisy neighbours dominating Scottish football.

Philippe Clement isn't out of the woods yet in terms of his security as manager, however, Old Firm wins always carry more weight in terms of buying time. 

There is another decision that would get fans back on board, if the Rangers boss repeated something that he did against Celtic and gave Nicolas Raskin the captaincy on a permanent basis. 

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Rangers fans want Clement to make Nicolas Raskin captain

In terms of contenders, Liam Kelly, Mohamed Diomande, Robin Propper and Ianis Hagi have all captained previous clubs or their countries, there wasn't a shortage of options.

Instead, Raskin, who has skippered Belgium's Under-21s, was given the nod and put in a blockbuster display in front of a jubilant Ibrox. 

"Can we talk about Raskin btw," asked one Rangers fan. "Absolutely phenomenal performance from him the day. Head and shoulders above everyone on that pitch. Let him keep the armband."

A sentiment shared by many including Ian Mitchell of the This is Ibrox podcast, "Keep Raskin and Sterling captain and vice-captain."

Both players stepped up to the plate in spectacular fashion and it is easy to see why this would be a popular call.

One fan even compared Raskin's display to Hall of Fame skipper Barry Ferguson, who always seemed to save his best for the big occasions. 

Another gave a different reason as to why Raskin should keep the captaincy, "Raskin should not only keep his armband because he's class, but he also hates them so much and he shows it on the pitch too."

What did Philippe Clement have to say about Raskin?

Clement was clearly impressed with his compatriot:

"Nico is taking also really good steps in that way at one moment in the first half," the Gers boss said when asked about the players who stepped up to lead his squad to victory. 

"That’s why I give him also the responsibility with the captaincy today, to learn these things and to stay positive also in the moments you don’t agree, for example, with the referee, but that we focus on our football and you don’t get distracted or with intimidation of another player from another team saying things to you.

"So, those are all steps that we need to take with the young players. The older players need to help. So, I’m happy that the young players are taking these steps, step by step."