Speaking after the match, Clement was clear that his squad are focused solely on improving themselves week-by-week rather than their current status as league leaders.
In his usual style, the former KRC Genk, Club Brugge, and AS Monaco boss’s latest soundbites have a calming and focused influence on Rangers as a club.
But they also open a discussion about where Rangers are, where they’ve come from, and – probably most importantly – where they’re going under the manager.
Philippe Clement points to three year Rangers cycle
It’s not just Clement’s comments on improvement which have turned a few heads in Ibrox circles, with the manager’s comments on two-to-three year squad rotations interesting fans.
Rangers fans aren’t stupid and know that if Philippe Clement continues to impress north of the border, then he’ll attract attention down south.
Steven Gerrard, Ange Postecoglou, and Brendan Rodgers (although certainly not this time around) have all drawn interest from the Premier League after success in Scotland.
“Our challenge is to be every week better, every month better,” said Clement. “Not every game better, that’s impossible, but we try to do that.
“To develop as individuals, as a team, to become better, to adapt to circumstances, to get experience together.
“My best time as a player was in a team where we played two years, three years together because you learn our of experiences, good ones, bad ones, you become better because you grow. And that’s what we are doing as a team to get experiences.
“Maybe if we wouldn’t have had the Dumbarton game in the cup it would’ve been more difficult today. So you learn out of every experience and the guys are really for the moment like a sponge getting all the information inside and doing the right things with it, what we ask, so that’s a good way.
“So this is what I want. This is what I’m going to be really tough on also. That I want to see an ambitious team who wants to become better and better and not looking at others, just at ourselves.”
More to come at Ibrox
Philippe Clement was also asked about whether or not this is just the beginning for this Rangers side.
Having only been in the job at Ibrox for four months, it’s been a quite remarkable turnaround with Rangers lifting the League Cup, qualifying for the Europa League Last 16, and now topping the Scottish Premiership.
There’s still plenty of games to play this season but the Rangers boss has been clear that everyone in the side still has room to improve.
“Beginning is maybe exaggerated but for sure we can grow a lot,” said Clement.
“If I see how they are playing now these last weeks and four months ago, we cannot speak about the beginning, because that was the beginning, but there is still a lot of room for progression.
“It’s clear, they all are growing also these last couple of months without exception so yeah we’re going to invest a lot with all staff in them and they invest also a lot in themselves and in the group because every day every body is super focused, hardworking.
“So I didn’t have any problem with that in this four months. That’s the first time in a team that I never had to smack somebody who was not focused any more or not motivated so no it’s a really important thing. But they all feel that they are in a special story and that it can be a really special story.”
Philippe Clement was appointed manager of Rangers in October 2023 with Sky Sports reporting the deal will run until the summer of 2027.
Whilst there’s certainly no danger of Philippe Clement jumping ship right now, if the Belgian continues in this vein, history tells us we just need to enjoy him whilst we can.
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