Staunch Clement goes early with the Poppy Card

As he follows Micky Beale down the rabbit hole Phil Clement has decided to play the Poppy Card, probably achieving a world record.

On September 21 the current Ibrox manager had a poppy badge on show for Remembrance Sunday, falling on November 10 this year.

September is unknown territory, even the BBC and Sky Sports will leave it until towards the end of October before littering their studios with poppies for guests to wear.

After starting his Ibrox career almost as dull and dry as Giovanni van Bronckhorst, the current boss has really let it al hang out in the last few months.

There were a few wobbles in March but claiming a Moral Victory after drawing 3-3 with Celtic on April 7 was the first step downhill. That came after a heart-pumping Lap of Honour.

Since then it has been almost weekly from Clement as he tries every excuse in the book to explain failures to the angry bears.

Ahead of losing to Celtic at the start of September he introduced the concept of having an exciting young team- on average one year younger than the Celtic side.

After being hammered 3-0 at Celtic Park he clung onto a stat that his side had 47% possession in the match as if it mattered, reference was also made to the stunning 6-0 win over Ross County.

With Europa League ties against Malmo and Lyon coming up Clement might need more than a poppy to defend himself from the angry bears.