Employing the Ibrox manager at Genk, Peter Croonen provided Record Sport with information about the guy who has revolutionized the Light Blues.
2019 at Genk, Peter Croonen with Philippe Clement
You would swear you were listening to a sales pitch if you didn’t know any better.
“One of the best coaches I have ever worked with is Philippe Clement.” He could manage any team in any league in the world, I’m sure of it. Rangers would be best served by keeping him in Glasgow for as long as feasible. However, this is not just a collection of soundbites from someone hoping to cash in on the Belgian’s remarkably rapid rise to prominence in Scottish football.
The Genk chairman, Peter Croonen, on the other hand, is still haunted by the fact that he allowed Clement to quit his team for better opportunities in the first place. And the first individual to recognize the coaching background that, in just four months, took the Ibrox team from championship contenders to Premiership table tops, already victorious in the Viaplay Cup.
He states: “He is highly brilliant and takes his work seriously because he is an engineer by background. He puts in a ton of effort at work and is constantly searching for small advantages. Because he wants to succeed at everything, everything in his life and mind is quite serious. In one-on-one interactions, he can also be incredibly laid back, frank, and compassionate. However, he is a serious man when it comes to his work.
This disclosure on Clement’s credentials makes perfect sense in hindsight. Mechanic / Big Phil. Who better to take a collection of seemingly broken pieces and turn them into a competitive machine that is ready to compete for a title?
“We took him because, in that short space of time, we saw a very clear game plan in the way Waasland-Beveren were playing.
Philippe Clement rejoices after Genk wins the title.
“We were easily convinced that his philosophy of football would fit very well with the way we like to play.
“He’s essentially an aggressive, attacking coach who also has a strong sense of organizational balance.” So we saw a very clear plan which was being very well executed – with good intensity and mentality. We were getting a lot of indications from the coaching community as well as from the games that Philippe had a lot of promise.
He joined us at a time when we had a strong team but weren’t getting the outcomes we thought we should have. Not long before New Year’s Eve, he lost his first game. But then, during the next calendar year, he was making the results we had hoped for. We were champions the next season.
That summer Clement was lured back to Brugge, where he had spent his best years as a player from 1999 to 2009 before joining the club’s coaching staff and setting off on the journey which has now brought him to Glasgow.
Croonen wishes something had changed. He goes on: “Philippe is one of the best coaches I’ve ever worked with because he combines a lot of qualities. First of all, he has a very clear idea about the football he wants to play.
“He is able to translate what he wants on the pitch to the players through his verbal communication but also through his training exercises. The philosophy of the game plan is in his training every day.
“He doesn’t change his game plan constantly. He tries to play his own game every time and to be better at it rather than change the game plan depending on the opponent.
“One of the things he always said was that the training has to be harder than the game at the weekend so, even the players who don’t play are really crucial in achieving quality during the week. That means the players who do play can be the best possible version of themselves and every single player is important in that.
“When we became champions there were a few players who had very little minutes on the pitch but they still felt like an important part of the team. That’s a really difficult thing to do but he’s very good at it.”
Those same qualities have been very evident during Clement’s first few months at Rangers. His team may have chopped and changed but results have remained constant.
Croonen nods: “That’s because everybody has the same philosophy, everybody is training in the same way, everybody knows the game plan and everybody feels important. That’s a huge achievement.
“Also, he has a 360 degree idea about what is needed within the squad, within his staff but also within the club.
“Whether it’s about medical preparation, physical preparation or even media communications.
“He has a very strong opinion and a very good opinion about everything to do with the club. He’s a top, top, top coach and next to that he’s a person that could communicate with everybody at the club.
“Some coaches are not accessible or difficult to reach. But Philippe was part of the family of the club, trying to make everybody better. He is very demanding with very clear ambitions about what has to be done better for the club to be successful.
“When Philippe was with Waasland-Beveren he was also the one who was looking for players and basically doing the scouting.
“At our club, he had respect for the fact that we have a fantastic head of football. But there was very good cooperation between them. Philippe has the quality to detect the individual potential of a player.
“So he’s really good at working with a collective and on individual psychology but he’s also very good at talent identification. So he combines all the different skills you need as a head coach. He’s a very complete coach and let’s just say, Rangers are lucky to have him.”
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