Philippe Clement’s time at Rangers was overshadowed by the strength of Celtic both on and off the pitch.
The former Rangers manager was sacked last season after Clement failed to close the gap to Celtic and immediately after the Ibrox club’s defeat to St Mirren in the league.
It was a pretty tough period for the Belgian who had to watch Celtic spend big money on the likes of Arne Engels and Adam Idah as the Parkhead club strolled another league and cup double.
And now, six months on, Clement has opened up on what the Rangers board really thought about catching Celtic and the spending power of the Parkhead club.
Philippe Clement on the ‘big difference’ between Celtic and Rangers
Clement had a tough task trying to get Rangers to the level of Celtic. The Parkhead club are a well-oiled machine and have been for decades on and off the park.
So when the Belgian took the job at the Ibrox club, he immediately noticed stark differences to how Celtic were run compared to Rangers.
Clement told Sacked in the Morning [28m], “I think there was a big difference about everything around the team, even maybe a bigger difference than on the pitch in everything, in preparation, in everything around the club.
“That Celtic is much more organised than the periods that I was there for sure in these seven months where there was total chaos at Rangers.”
Clement on what the Rangers board admitted about Celtic’s ‘money’
As well as competing with a well-established treble-winning Celtic side, Rangers also had to try and figure out how to invest in their squad.
And here, Clement shares what the Rangers board admitted to him about Celtic’s finances.
Clement continued, “They asked me at the end of that season to renew the contract because they wanted to work longer term.
“And they said literally, okay, we know we don’t have the money that Celtic has for the moment. We don’t have really big value in our squads, and that you saw also in that summer, there’s nobody sold for good money. At that moment, it was quite an older squad.
“So we know we’re going to need four, five, six maybe transfer windows to gain money again and to close this gap with Celtic. And it starts with getting young players in, develop them, make them better, and to sell them and to get money like this for the club and to build the club again where it should be.
“So that was the plan before the summer.”
Clement really was on a hiding to nothing trying to compete with Celtic and, in the end, the pressure was too much for him.
Celtic’s trophy successes meant that even though Clement won two cups, not winning the league was the be-all and end-all for Rangers, and, eventually, Clement’s Ibrox career.
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