Thomas Buffel in player ‘collapse’ warning at Ibrox, delivers ‘pressure’ message to new Rangers boss Philippe Clement
Thomas Buffel warned new Rangers manager Philippe Clement there will be an expectation to win every game as Rangers manager and that some players will “collapse” under that “pressure”.
Former Rangers player Buffel, who won a Scottish Premier League and Scottish League Cup during the 2004-05 season, was a former Belgium team-mate of Clement’s and also played under him at Genk.
Clement was named as the successor to Michael Beale in the Ibrox dugout on a deal until 2027 on Sunday (Sky Sports, 15 October) and Buffel – while confident he can succeed – sounded a warning for his tenure.
“He has proved his abilities, winning titles with Genk and Bruges. In Monaco he had a good spell as well, leading them to a top-three place,” he told BBC Scotland (15 October).
“He has different skills. He brings structure and clarity. His teams play good football but don’t lose the physical side of the game. It’s important you have that combination.
“The pressure will be similar because at Club Bruges they expect to win every game, every title and qualify for the Champions League every year.
“It’s going to be the same expectation from the Rangers supporters, although a stadium of 25,000 and 50,000 is a bit different.
“Sometimes players collapse under that pressure. As manager you have to protect the players and coach them so they are able to perform at Ibrox.”
Under no illusion
Any manager who applies for the job at Ibrox is under absolutely no illusion as to the scale of task they face at the Glasgow giants, it’s just some thrive under that pressure and others wilt.
Look at Beale for instance. Here is a guy who was credited as the tactical brains behind Steven Gerrard’s famous title success at Ibrox, but the difference between being a number two and the top man proved too big of a step.
Clement knows all about expectations in his native Belgium and won top-flight titles with both Genk and Club Brugge, so he is clearly a manager who knows how to deliver success.
Monaco supporters were less than enthralled by his reign overall mind, so there is an element of the unknown we are heading into with Clement as manager.
So Buffel is absolutely right to be delivering this fair warning, now it is over to Clement to show whether he can handle that pressure.
In other Rangers news, Alex McCleish has delivered his own Ibrox reality check after the Clement appointment.