Philippe Clement: new Rangers boss is primed to handle pressure, say Thomas Buffel and Alex McLeish
- Published
Philippe Clement celebrated successive titles with Club Bruges in May 2021 before becoming Monaco January seven months later
Delivering back-to-back league titles with Belgian giants Club Bruges has equipped Philippe Clement to handle the intense pressure at Rangers, says former team-mate Thomas Buffel.
Clement, 49, has been hired to replace Michael Beale, who lasted just 10 months at Ibrox.
Th Belgian won three straight titles from 2019, first with Genk then twice with Bruges, before moving to Monaco.
Ex-Rangers forward Buffel says "good manager" Clement is an ideal choice.
Buffel, who was a team-mate of Clement in the Belgium national team and later played under him at Genk, told BBC Scotland: "He has proved his abilities, winning titles with Genk and Bruges. In Monaco he had a good spell as well, leading them to a top-three place.
"He has different skills. He brings structure and clarity. His teams play good football but don't lose the physical side of the game. It's important you have that combination.
"The pressure will be similar because at Club Bruges they expect to win every game, every title and qualify for the Champions League every year.
"It's going to be the same expectation from the Rangers supporters, although a stadium of 25,000 and 50,000 is a bit different.
"Sometimes players collapse under that pressure. As manager you have to protect the players and coach them so they are able to perform at Ibrox."
With Rangers trailing Celtic by seven points in the Scottish Premiership title race, as well as fighting for qualification from their Europa League group, Clement has little time to ease into the job.
Buffel, though, is convinced his compatriot can effect an immediate upturn in results.
"He proved that at Monaco by taking them from ninth place to the top three," he added.
"In Genk in the first year he reached the cup final and in the second year they became champions. He had to work with young players who needed another year to get the experience to be able to deliver the prizes."
'Absolutely torture' when results falter - McLeish
Former Rangers boss Alex McLeish, who also managed Genk in the 2014-15 season, believes the scrutiny that comes with being at the Ibrox helm may take Clement by surprise despite his vast experience.
"He will soon know all about it quickly," said McLeish. "He'll realise Rangers are among 10 to 15 teams in the world who have to win every week. I know that from my days.
"In the moments when you're not winning it's absolutely torture. You're not able to sleep at night."
McLeish believes Rangers players "need a wee cuddle" after a torrid start to the season following Beale's extensive squad overhaul.
Goalkeeper Jack Butland is arguably the only one of the nine summer signings to merit pass marks so far and Clement is tasked with wringing improvement from an underperforming squad.
"He has to impose his personality on the team in a very positive way because a lot of these guys will be hurting right now with the results and events of the last few weeks," added McLeish.
"We haven't seen the quality of the individuals brought to the club this season that we perhaps expected. Can he unleash the potential the recruitment thought these guys were going to rise to?"
What can Rangers fans expect from Clement?
Scott Coyne, Belgian football consultant and part of The Belgian Football Podcast
"He's pretty flexible as a coach. He won't go in there with a preferred template and look to place that upon the squad. At all his previous clubs he was able to assess the squad and get results very quickly with the players already there, so there wasn't a need to spend a lot of money.
"He likes a possession-based game, predominately attacking. He looks to get in behind and find the space, so his wing-backs and strikers to get in behind as quickly as possible and exploit the space.
"The real challenge he will face tactically will be that a lot of teams play against Rangers with a low block.
"He will know some of the Rangers players already. Nicolas Raskin, Rabbi Matondo, Cyriel Dessers all spent time in Belgium playing against Clement's sides, and he'll be pretty confident there is enough attacking quality in the squad for him to work with in the immediate term."
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