Graeme Souness has offered his full backing to Philippe Clement, insisting the Belgian has the managerial acumen to transform Rangers’ fortunes despite the challenges he faces.
The former Rangers boss is adamant that Clement is the right man for the job but believes the club’s current squad and financial constraints are limiting his ability to close the gap with rivals Celtic.
In the wake of Rangers’ stunning 4-1 victory over Nice in the Europa League, which secured an automatic last-16 spot in UEFA’s second-tier competition, Souness gave Clement a ringing endorsement.
“Rangers have a manager who is more than capable of achieving for the club,” Souness said.
“But I don’t care if you had Pep Guardiola and Jurgen Klopp working at Ibrox right now and brought Sir Alex Ferguson out of retirement to help them, I don’t see results being any different. This guy they have in charge more than knows what he’s doing. He just needs help in terms of bringing in better players.”
Souness, who managed Rangers between 1986 and 1991, emphasized that even the best managers in the game would struggle with the current resources at Ibrox.
“From the outside looking in I have no in-depth knowledge of the current situation so I won’t be critical of the structures in place,” he admitted.
“What I would say is that I don’t care who the manager is in there right now, I’m not sure he’d be getting any better results with the squad they have.
“I believe Rangers need an injection of money to help the manager to do his job, which he’s more than capable of doing if he had the resources. Right now he’s managing a group of players who are behind Celtic, and I’ll be criticised for saying this, but I don’t see any great gulf between the two teams.”
Souness was quick to pinpoint Celtic’s advantage in the striking department as the key factor separating the Old Firm rivals.
“What I do see is Celtic having players who do the most important thing, and that is being able to consistently put the ball into the net more than Rangers do,” he said.
“Celtic have better strikers and the stats bear that out. I don’t see one team dominating the other or any enormous gulf, but they have better goalscorers and that can never be underestimated.”
A Glimmer of Hope
Despite Celtic stretching their lead over Rangers to 11 points at the top of the Premiership table, Souness believes there are reasons for optimism, particularly after the performance of striker Hamza Igamane against Nice.
“I get frustrated watching games of football when it’s teams I have a strong affection for, but the display against Nice was much more like the standard Rangers have set during European games in recent seasons,” Souness said.
“Igamane was excellent and put his hand up as a good option for one of the striking roles, and it was great to see. You can’t underestimate the achievement of winning in the manner Rangers did in Nice, and that should be a shot in the arm for everyone at the club.”
Souness highlighted the importance of recruitment in determining a club’s success, suggesting that past transfer dealings have let Rangers down.
“Recruitment is the most important thing at any football club,” he said.
“Rangers won the league three years ago and reached a European final two years ago. Whatever money those achievements generated, they will feel disappointed with some of the players they have brought in with that money. Clement has said it will take time for players to find their feet, and maybe Igamane is proving to be an example of that.”
Financial Challenges
The appointment of Patrick Stewart as Rangers’ new chief executive this week has filled an important vacancy, but Souness warned that the financial landscape of Scottish football presents a significant challenge.
“The way the game has evolved in the last 20 years has been very unkind towards Scottish football,” Souness explained.
“Rangers brought in around five or six million pounds for the domestic television deal. I live down in Bournemouth, and they have a team who get 11,000 people inside their stadium but over £100 million each year from television.
“That shows what the Old Firm are up against, and I firmly believe that if there was a British league and an even playing field, then both Rangers and Celtic would be challenging at the top four of that competition.”
Souness’s words underline the magnitude of the task facing Clement, but with the right backing and recruitment, the former Liverpool legend is convinced Rangers can restore their competitive edge.
