There are some people in life who you meet one minute and instantly forget about the next. And there are others who leave a lasting impression.
It’s hard to put into words – they just have that aura about them – and, in my experience, these people don’t come around all that often. But let’s just say, I caught up with one of them the other day. I was over at the Rangers training camp in La Manga last week and I had the pleasure of bumping into Philippe Clement at the team hotel after dinner last Saturday night.
It was the first time I’ve had the chance to introduce myself to the manager since his appointment and I’m certainly not going to go into any detail about what was discussed over those 20 minutes or so. It was a good chat about football and life in Scotland in general. But what I will say is I walked away from that conversation with a smile on my face because it confirmed to me what I had already suspected just by watching on from afar.
Trust me when I say it, this guy really gets what Rangers are all about. And I can think of no bigger compliment to pay him. He’s a straight talking man who doesn’t use big words or any fancy dan phrases. He’s just a down to earth football man who understands what it means to be in charge of this club and the demands that come with the job. Most of all, he realises that the key to life as the Rangers manager is to be a winner.
I’ll be honest here, I’m not easily impressed. But I walked away thinking to myself, ‘That’s one impressive individual – this guy really does get what it’s all about!’. I’ve also met more than a few managers in my time. Some good. Some others not so much. So I know a proper one when I see one. He fully understands the club, the demands and the expectations. And I was left with the feeling that my old club is in really good hands.
Time will tell. He’s only just come in the door and there’s a lot of hard work still to do. He knows he needs another couple of signings before the transfer window shuts and he realises that’s easier said than done at this time of year. It may take a bit of wheeling and dealing in the last few days of the market.
I’m sure the club will be trying to give him what he needs over the coming days but the good news is that a number of players who haven’t been available to him over his first few months in charge are now back to fitness and are ready to go again.
Hopefully, guys like Ryan Jack, Nico Raskin and Tom Lawrence are going to have a huge part to play in what comes next. The squad had become a bit threadbare before the break but now I expect the training ground to be buzzing with players competing for starting places.
They were certainly putting the work in during their time in Spain. You didn’t see them hanging out at the pool or around the complex.
It was a case of eat, sleep, train and repeat. And that tells me where their heads are at. This is a group of players who are fully focussed and are getting ready to throw themselves into battle.
Having the likes of Jack, Raskin and Lawrence back for the second half of the season will be a massive boost. But, on top of that, the boys who joined the club last summer now realise there won’t be time for them to take a breath between now and the summer. There were a lot of new arrivals during that period and it’s fair to say they didn’t all exactly hit the ground running.
But they’ve had six months to bed themselves in and understand what being a Rangers player is all about. I do, though, have a bit of news for them. If they thought the first part of the season was a bit mental, they ain’t seen nothing yet. Because, in this part of the world, the real pressure starts from here on in from now until May.
So if they thought the demands that have been placed on them have been heavy up until this point, then they’re about to find out what the next level looks like. They’ll be aware by now that it never eases off. Every week is nitty-gritty at Rangers but it’s when the finishing line comes into sight in the second half of the campaign that it does all come down to the wire.
They’ve had their winter break, they’ve gone away, they’ve had time to refresh themselves and they’ve had a couple of friendlies to get some minutes in the legs. But this is where the madness really begins. This is when they are required to give way above and beyond anything they might have experienced before.
In the first few months under Clement they have shown what they are capable of. The only black mark against them was the Old Firm game on December 30 and, even at that, I don’t think anybody could have complained if they came away with at least a point from Parkhead. So now it’s all about dusting themselves down and making sure they are ready for the next four months. Because it’s going to be one huge game after the next until the summer.
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