Rangers manager Philippe Clement makes Monopoly analogy as he seeks to strengthen

Rangers manager Philippe Clement makes Monopoly analogy as he seeks to strengthen

Philippe Clement’s major priority over the past few weeks has been to bolster his Rangers team with fresh players,

enhancing the Ibrox club’s prospects of winning the Scottish Cup, Europa League,

and Premiership in the second half of the season.

At his pre-match press conference yesterday at Auchenhowie,

Clement barely mentioned the tough fourth round encounter against part-time League Two underdogs Dumbarton at The Rock this evening.

The game will only go forward if the pitch passes a 1pm inspection.

He was questioned about whether Connor Barron of Aberdeen had been targeted (he declined to discuss specific players), whether Ridvan Yilmaz was dedicated to the cause (he reassured reporters the left back was despite constant rumors about him moving on), and whether he was any closer to closing any deals (he had no updates to provide despite ongoing talks with a number of individuals).

The Belgian said that he will be happy when the January transfer window ends so that he can focus entirely on mentoring his young players on the practice field and officiating games from the sideline. He remarked, “It is a really busy spell.” “On February 1, you can take a little break after this period ends.”

Nevertheless, the former manager of Genk, Club Brugge, and Monaco nonetheless found time over the winter break to assess his squad’s composition as well as recent transfer activity and identify areas that will require future improvement.

The fact that so many of his players (Kemar Roofe, Leon Balogun, Ryan Jack, Jon McLaughlin, John Lundstram, and Borna Barisic) have expiring contracts at the end of the 2023–2024 season does not impress him.

He also believes that, looking forward, there ought to be a lot more focus on nurturing and then capitalizing on youthful talent, maybe as a result of the finances, or lack thereof, that the board is currently providing for him.

But Clement is sure that his colleagues care about their long-term aspirations just as much as their short- and medium-term objectives.

He declared, “We have a whole plan together.” “Having everyone in alignment is the most crucial aspect of this time. The club wants to try to accomplish something.

“It must stay within the allocated funds. I am aware that we are not the wealthiest club in the world. We want to bring in guys who can have an impact right away and who will continue to add value over the next several years so they can be sold for more money down the road.

“Because when you look back over the last couple of years this is one thing that we have missed. We didn’t have big outgoing transfers to get money in to do other things. So we need to get better in that. That’s one of the targets.

“It’s strange for a manager to talk about that, but I know what the story is. I want to help in that way so the club can grow in every sense.

“The top Belgian clubs can spend more money than Rangers for the moment. That’s the reality for the moment so like I said we need to build with the club a better model where there’s more money coming in.”

He added: “But it’s not only about that. It’s getting a good balance in everything in your squad. You need to have experienced players who can guide the story, together with me of course.

“You need a good balance. You need to have some young some prospects that you can let grow to a higher level than Glasgow Rangers, that needs to be the objective.

“You need players who are in contract in your club. To have five players out of contract this season? It’s a crazy situation because you are throwing away money. They are no value any more if their contract is ended.

“There’s a lot of work to be done in that way. But everybody in the club is working hard in that way. There is now a clear vision in how to bring money into the club by developing the players while getting results also and winning trophies.

“It’s all of that together, it’s not based on one thing. You don’t come into a situation with players of value going out of contract and can leave for free. It’s a situation that while I lead the club that can never happen.”

Clement, who has been without a raft of players due to injuries since replacing Michael Beale back in October, admitted he would prefer to be able to make signings throughout the season instead of during the summer and winter windows.

However, he accepts the situation and is confident of being able to bring in new faces before Thursday week.

“For me it would be best to have it all season so you can adapt to situations where you have injuries or whatever,” he said. “Like it is in normal life. If someone is working in a company there is not one month where he can move to another company. It’s all year.

“But I’m not the one deciding the rules about that luckily. I have enough to do. It’s like you play a game like Monopoly. You start the game and you know the rules so I’m not the one who needs to change the rules.

“In my day, it was different in that you started the season and ended the season as a team for the most part of my career. It created more togetherness. You knew that the day you start and that you finish with us all together. But the world has changed. There are much more movements.

“In the beginning of my career, it was before the Bosman ruling. You were stuck with the team, almost. It’s good for the players they are more free now. It’s a good evolution like it is in society also.”

Get more related news on https://dailysportnews.co.uk