Of course Clement agreed with the Hagi red card. It doesn’t make him a paragon of virtue.

This afternoon I had a good laugh when I came across Behind The Whistle, the podcast run by former referees Des Roach and Steve Conroy.

They were full of praise for the Ibrox club’s manager, Philippe Clement, for not, as they put it, “defending the indefensible” after Ianis Hagi’s red card against St. Johnstone.

I chuckled because, let’s be honest, Clement was never going to defend that tackle.

Even if it had been a little less reckless, I think he’d have still held his hands up and agreed with the decision. And why wouldn’t he?

Hagi’s been nothing but dead weight for Clement since he arrived, and now he’s conveniently unavailable for three matches due to suspension. In fact, I suspect Clement might even be quietly pleased about it. It gives him three games without having to wrestle with the dilemma of where to fit in a player he clearly doesn’t rate or particularly want in his squad.

It doesn’t mean Clement comes out of this situation looking any stronger, and it certainly doesn’t make his job easier, but at least he gets a temporary reprieve from the Hagi problem.

For now, he can focus on his own plan without feeling compelled to include someone who doesn’t fit into his vision for the team, and in doing so avoid some of the scrutiny (not that he’s getting much of it from those whose job it is anyway) for having back in their ranks a footballer he had made the decision to freeze out before he was forced to accept him anyway.

But what amused me the most is how some are now falling over themselves to praise Clement for simply stating the obvious—that the tackle was a shocker. Are we really at the point where acknowledging reality is something to be commended? It would have been beyond absurd for him to try and defend that challenge. If anything, it would have invited more criticism.

Which leads me to the broader issue.

Clement avoided a disrepute charge for his antics and comments following the Hibs match, complete with his Basil Fawlty-style impressions. It’s astonishing that he got away with that, but not surprising when you consider how Ibrox managers seem to get a free pass when it comes to criticising officials.

Brendan Rodgers was pulled over the coals last season for comments after the game at Tynecastle, yet Clement escapes without so much as a slap on the wrist. Recently, Ricky Foster, a former Ibrox player and coach now at Motherwell, got a six-game ban for comments made on BBC Sportscene about a decision. The double standard is glaring.

This selective enforcement goes back years. I remember Steven Gerrard, on virtually his first weekend in the job, implying bias against his team from the SFA and referees. That set the tone for his tenure, where he frequently criticised officials and got away with it. Van Bronckhorst did the same, and let’s not even start on Michael Beale. Now Clement appears to think he’s got the same immunity, and why wouldn’t he? His predecessors got away with it, and the club has even put its bloggers on the trail of officials without consequences.

Clement’s remarks, last season, about Alistair Johnston’s alleged penalty were disgraceful, yet nothing came of it. So, it’s funny to see him being lauded now for his “honesty,” as if criticising Hagi—a player he doesn’t want in his team anyway—is some great moral stand.

There’s a lot of reality denial going on when people try to paint Clement, or anyone associated with that club, as paragons of virtue.

That, to me, is always going to be hilarious.