'I like the cut of his jib' - Former Rangers boss a big fan of senior Ibrox figure

Philippe Clement deserves “a lot of kudos” for what he has done at Rangers so far but needs more quality in his squad, says Alex McLeish.

The ex-Ibrox boss admitted he likes the current Gers manager on the BBC’s Sacked in the Morning podcast on 16 October, backing him to reel in Celtic if the club can get their recruitment right.

And the two-time Scotland national team manager accepted that Clement hasn’t had the benefit of waking into a strong situation like he did, having taken over from Michael Beale a year ago with the team in disarray following a transfer window which had not delivered what was promised.

McLeish said (39m): “He’s not quite got the quality in the team at Rangers that I inherited from Dick Advocaat back in the day, and he’s still trying to build that quality.

“They’re just that little bit short in terms of where Celtic are at the moment. It hinges on the recruitment, and if Rangers can just get the recruitment a little bit tighter then they’ll surely be a big challenge to Celtic.

“So a lot of kudos, and I’ve met him and I like him, I like the cut of his jib, and I’m hoping he can take Rangers to better things.”

Alex McLeish likes cut of Rangers manager’s jib

Clement is just the six trophies behind ‘Big Eck’ who delivered two Scottish titles, a pair of Scottish Cups and three League Cups, including the treble in 2002/03.

Whether the Belgian ever gets the chance to match that record remains to be seen as he currently divides opinion among the fanbase.

The Light Blues hierarchy made the decision to back the 50-year-old ahead of the season even if results were poor [The Herald, 27 July] and demonstrated as such with an unexpected contract extension ahead of the opener at Hearts.

Having changed manager around the same point in each of the past three seasons any advantage over Celtic had been squandered and the cycle had to end.

But, despite no shortage of mitigating circumstances, there are fewer who are convinced now that Clement is the man they should have stuck on than there would have been in the first few months of his reign.

And it isn’t all a matter of getting his own players in, since arguably the two best performers in his time at Ibrox, Jack Butland and Dujon Sterling, both arrived during Beale’s ill-fated overhaul, and from his own signings the likes of Robin Propper has yet to properly establish himself while Oscar Cortes has been constantly injured, and even Mohamed Diomande has been inconsistent at times.

But Clement has the backing of those who make the decisions and has backed himself to finally overturn Brendan Rodgers’ Hoops in January, although he could have caused himself a lot of bother if he doesn’t now back that up.

In other Rangers news, an experienced international is expected to leave the Light Blues this season despite a key breakthrough.

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