Dan Carter

Mon 18 December 2023 12:45, UK

Graeme Souness has shared that he is “confident” Philippe Clement will do well at Rangers but has called upon the Ibrox board to help him sign some new players in January.

The Belgian lifted his first piece of silverware only a matter of months after taking over the reins at Ibrox when the Gers beat Aberdeen in the Viaplay Cup final on Sunday 17 December, thanks to James Tavernier’s second-half strike.

While Souness, who has been open about the fact he felt Frank Lampard was a better option for the manager’s position, now completely backs Clement, he feels as though he needs to be backed in the transfer market to improve his squad at Ibrox.

Speaking on talkSPORT (18 December, 11:40) he said: “He’s made a great start. He’s done very very well and fair play to him. When we interviewed him, he was very impressive and spoke well. I was trying to come up with tricky questions for him and he batted them away beautifully.

“He’s got presence and the players will listen to him. He’s had a wee bit of luck along the way but every manager needs that.

“Wearing a Rangers shirt and it must be the same for Celtic, some big players find wearing those shirts very, very heavy and you want the spotlight on the other team not you, as you well know from the west of Scotland it can be brutal up there.

“I’m confident he’s going to do really well at Rangers. He’ll need some help, I think they still need to get a couple of players in so hopefully the board can help him with that, but I think they’re on the right road with this guy.”

Kick-on

For what feels like the first time in a couple of seasons, there is a real feel-good factor around Rangers and Ibrox currently as the Light Blues have finally got their hands on some silverware while also finding their way back into the title race.

A big part of that lift in mood has come courtesy of the work of Clement since he arrived in Glasgow and the Belgian boss has really transformed this side from an uncoordinated mess into a competitive force in both Scotland and Europe.

However, one trophy is not enough and Rangers have a genuine chance to kick on and achieve something special this season and they cannot afford to let it pass them by. Celtic are by no means the finished article themselves and have left the Gers a window of opportunity to pull ahead in the title race.

With the right quality additions in the January transfer window, Rangers can pull ahead of Brendan Rodgers’ side and Clement’s early work should have earned him the backing of the board. Hopefully, they give him the funds to make a couple of additions in January.

In other Rangers news, Ally McCoist has offered his verdict on the title race in Scotland following Celtic’s recent “disaster”