£50m-a-year truth bomb dropped on Philippe Clement amid Rangers contract speculation
Gary Keown has dropped a truth both on new Rangers manager Philippe Clement after it emerged that he wanted the financial protection of a long-term contract at Ibrox.
Writing on page 99 of the Scottish Mail on Sunday’s print edition on 15 October, the journalist said the Belgian better not be asking for the Gers to “stick with him through thick and thin” if he “doesn’t quite hit the ground running” in Glasgow.
He added that it isn’t the way things work at clubs like the Light Blues, where the 49-year-old will be running a wage bill that’s more than £50million-a-year in a league where only one other club is operating in the same ballpark.
“Philippe Clement seeking the financial protection of a long-term contract as part of negotiations over potentially becoming manager of Rangers is one thing,” said Keown.
“He’d better not be asking for a similarly long-term commitment to stick with him through thick and thin, though, if he doesn’t quite hit the ground running.
“That’s not the way it works at the likes of Rangers. Not when you are running a wage bill that’s over £50million-a-year in a league in which there is only one other club operating in anything like the same ballpark.”
Comes with risk
There is no doubt that taking on the Rangers job does come with a potentially huge risk, but it’s the case when joining any club of this magnitude.
It’s understandable that Clement wanted a bit of protection after Giovanni van Bronckhorst and Michael Beale both only lasted a year in charge at Ibrox before they were sacked.
But if you are going to be given that, then you simply have to be offering up something special and putting the Gers in a position to challenge on more than one front on a consistent basis.
The major challenge initially for Clement is going to be working with the players Beale brought in over the summer and trying to instil some confidence into the squad on the back of a less-than-impressive start to the season.
It certainly won’t be an easy job to walk into initially, but the rewards can be extremely high if you can get things going at Ibrox and the fans fully behind you.
In other Rangers news, one Ibrox favourite could be finished after the Clement appointment.