Second year must bring Ibrox stability if Clement is to succeed

The second year of the Philippe Clement era at Rangers officially gets underway at Rugby Park, Kilmarnock this afternoon.

The Belgian has already lasted longer in office than three of his four immediate, permanent predecessors although to construe that as a sign of some much-needed stability at Ibrox would be misleading.

If anything, the air of uncertainty at Rangers is even thicker now, smothering a club still without a chief executive, a chairman or a sporting director and creating a vacuum of leadership when it is needed most.

Clement, to his credit, has never tried to make a big play of those boardroom distractions — ‘I am not busy with that’ has become a stock phrase to wave away talk of things he can’t control — although it is often tougher to judge a manager’s track record when he is operating within such turbulence.

For a while earlier this year it looked like the man who guided Genk and then Club Brugge to three Belgian Pro League titles between them was going to get the championship champagne corks popping at Ibrox, too.

With Celtic struggling for consistency during Brendan Rodgers’ first season back, the opportunity was there for Rangers. 

A come-from-behind 2-1 victory at today’s venue left them two points clear at the top of the Premiership heading into March, as Clement praised his players’ resilience, mentality, solidarity and the quality to adapt’.

It wasn’t to last. A home defeat to Motherwell just a few days later started a late-season decline that saw them eventually finish eight points behind champions Celtic and then lose the Scottish Cup final to their rivals to round off another largely underwhelming campaign.

Talk in the summer of a fresh start ahead of Clement’s first full season has so far proved misplaced, with Celtic winning the opening derby at a canter and Rangers suffering chastening European losses to Dynamo Kyiv and Lyon. Domestically, they currently sit third in a two-horse race.

What, then, would represent success come the end of Clement’s second year in charge? 

Challenging Celtic’s supremacy in the short term seems a big ask. The crinkles that were evident last season have been largely ironed out, domestically at least, with Celtic playing with a fluency that was absent in the early months of last season.

Rangers have been flawless domestically since that Celtic Park setback in September and realistically need to continue in a similar vein until the next league derby at Ibrox on January 2. 

Matches like this afternoon and the midweek trip to Pittodrie in 10 days’ time will thoroughly test their mettle in a scenario where there is little margin for error.

Clement won a trophy in his first year in charge but his route to League Cup glory didn’t pass through Celtic who were the surprise victims of an early Kilmarnock mugging. 

Rangers won’t likely enjoy the same stroke of good fortune if they are to retain it, with the Glasgow pair on a collision course for the December 15 final.

It is the misfortune of every Old Firm manager to be judged on how they fare against their rivals, even in eras when it isn’t an even contest. 

Celtic boast a far stronger squad, a much healthier bank balance and greater stability behind the scenes. 

None of that will be taken into consideration by most Rangers fans should their team fail to deliver a victory in either the cup final — should that pairing come to pass — or in the New Year derby at Ibrox.

Clement has yet to savour an Old Firm win. A one-off victory in the fixture is not beyond him or his team but they do not look suitably equipped to challenge Celtic’s dominance over a longer stretch.

It is too early to judge most of Rangers’ summer signings — Jefte, Connor Barron and Robin Propper have all looked solid — and with time others like Neraysho Kasanwirjo could come to make a lasting impression as well. Building up a competitive squad will only enhance Rangers’ prospects of eventually toppling Celtic.

‘I hope I have a lot of headaches with making decisions, when to use what player, because that will only benefit the team, and Nana (Kasanwirjo) is pushing in that way, clearly,’ acknowledged Clement.

‘If players keep on pushing longer term, they will get their minutes.’

Europe represents another frontier in which Clement must prove his worth. If blame for the Kyiv loss can be partially placed at the door of Rangers’ temporary occupation of Hampden and the Lyon thrashing simply an evening when they were outclassed, then better will be expected this week against Steaua Bucharest and then away to Olympiakos. 

The opening-day win in Malmo shows what this team is capable of.

Challenges will continue to make life tougher for Clement, including injuries to Oscar Cortes, Ridvan Yilmaz, Rabbi Matondo and Danilo. Clement moved to dispel the growing suspicion that Cortes arrived in Scotland as damaged goods.

‘Before he came to Rangers Oscar didn’t have one injury in all his career; not in Lens, not in Colombia, nothing,’ he added. 

‘So it’s not a player that the club wanted to bring in with a big injury record because those are things we are looking much more into than it was in the past.’

Clement did concede that the sheer volume of off-field trauma was something he hadn’t anticipated but hoped that would ease soon, with some key off-field positions set to be filled.

‘A lot of things happened in the club that I didn’t expect one year ago,’ he revealed.

‘I think it’s part of this job. I don’t think there are many seasons that managers can say afterwards, “Oh, this season was really easy, no challenges, no injuries, nothing happened in the club”. It doesn’t work that way.

‘I had to do more things than I did before in the club. But that’s going to change fast now, I think in the next couple of weeks and for sure in the next couple of months. What is soon? 

'That’s a dangerous thing to answer in Glasgow.’

It is not the only danger that lies ahead for Clement as he moves into his second year, expectations as high as ever.