Rangers: Philippe Clement eyes 'little seeds' of progress versus Hibernian
- Published
Philippe Clement takes charge of Rangers for the first time on Saturday
Philippe Clement is looking forward to Saturday's debut as Rangers manager "to see how fast the little seeds that we planted this week will grow".
Hibernian are the visitors at Ibrox as the Belgian looks to implement his ideas on a side sitting seven points adrift of leaders Celtic.
Clement hopes fans will spot changes from predecessor Michael Beale's reign.
"But I'm not Harry Potter with the magic stick who can change everything suddenly," he said.
That was a return to the "I'm not a magician" theme of his first media conference as manager earlier this week, but stressed that, since then, "I learnt a lot, but not for your eyes or ears".
"I see a lot of good things here, but I see a lot of things we all together can make better and we need to focus on that now," he said.
"It's never perfect from the beginning, that's also impossible, but I see the good intentions in staff and with the players. It depends how fast players react, how fast players understand."
Clement pointed out that he has experience of taking over a squad mid-season with Genk and Monaco and "it needs to be step by step".
"I want to create much more the bond between supporters and the players again," he said while pointing out that it was less about him and more about the players "winning games and it's about playing better and better football with a dominant aggressive style".
Clement also aims to create the "strongest physical team in the league" with fewer injuries than Rangers have experienced recently.
Meanwhile, he spoke about fellow former Belgium midfielder Stephan van der Heyden as his assistant.
The 54-year-old, who was in the 1994 World Cup squad, was most recently coaching with Kerala Blasters in India and was also assistant with the Jordan national team.
"We worked together in the past," Clement added. "He knows the story. He knows the way I want to work.
"He's someone who is really loyal and is somebody who is really good with players. He knows the details of the game - he can make players better."
Clement, though, is expected to add to his backroom team, stressing that "local staff" were needed as "I don't want to have this small Belgian island".
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