Keith Jackson shares impossible Philippe Clement verdict after Rangers interviews
It seems impossible that Philippe Clement must have not made an impression on Graeme Souness during the interview process to be the Rangers manager, according to Keith Jackson.
Writing on the Daily Record website on Monday (23 October), the journalist said the Scotsman will have sat down with the Gers boss at least once before being handed the top job at Ibrox.
He added that if Souness believed any other candidates were “better qualified” for the role than the Belgian, then surely the club’s hierarchy wouldn’t have ignored his opinion after bringing him in to help with the interviews.
“Souness will also have sat down at least once with Clement and it seems impossible not to conclude that the former Bruges and Monaco manager must have made an impression on the man who was responsible for bringing (Walter) Smith to the club as his trusted assistant in the first place,” said Jackson.
“Because if Souness believed that any of the other candidates were better qualified for the role then surely his opinion wouldn’t have been ignored by chief executive James Bisgrove, chairman John Bennett or director Graeme Park?
“That would have defeated the whole purpose of inviting such a behemoth into the conversation so it can only be concluded that Souness likes what he sees in Clement and believes the Belgian to be capable of fixing the mess that (Michael) Beale betrothed him.”
Surely not
It seems incredibly unlikely that the board would bring Souness in to help with interviewing candidates and then not choose to appoint the manager he believes is best suited for the Rangers job.
The former Gers player and boss is very strong with his opinions and it would be extremely difficult to go against him after asking for his advice in the first place.
Although it was a number of years ago and times have changed, the Scot understands what it takes to be the Light Blues manager and would have been able to ask the right questions, so it was a shrewd move to get him involved.
Clement comes across as a confident character who won’t back down either, which is potentially something that impressed Souness during his interviews.
The Belgian will have been pleased to have got his first game out of the way, having recorded a 4-0 win against Hibernian on Saturday (21 October), and he’ll now be looking to push on.
In other Rangers news, a highly-rated transfer guru has turned the club down following an approach.