Philippe Clement has been talking to a press conference as Rangers prepare to face off against Dumbarton in the Scottish Cup.
The Gers have already ended a 13-year wait to lift the League Cup in the first half of the season with the Scottish Cup next up in the Ibrox club’s sights.
With Rangers competing on three more fronts this season, fans are beginning to dream and coming up against League Two opposition the club will be expected to deliver.
Here’s everything Philippe Clement had to say as the manager addressed a press conference ahead of the trip to Dumbarton.
Philippe Clement press conference Dumbarton v Rangers (Scottish Cup)
Philippe I know you’ll be getting sick of being asked questions about the transfer window every time we speak but…
“So we’re not going to speak about that. That’s really nice of you! I love it, I love it!”
We need to do the dance, we need to do the dance! You spoke in midweek quite a lot about some of the challenges, you spoke about the issues at left-back as well, there’s a suggestion out of Turkey today that Ridvan (Yilmaz) has been told he needs to play regularly to make the Euros squad and he may have come to you to ask to move to do that. Can you talk us through your discussions with Ridvan and what his situation is?
“No there’s not been talks around that. We had our individual talk like with all the players in training camp. It was very interesting with all the players, I have to say. I told them also it was the most open, truthful talks I had until now with the team. About everything, about themselves, about their working points, about last couple of months, about the future, about the club, things that we can improve with them, around them. So it was really good and with Ridvan it was clearly a good talk because afterwards he played. So we will see. I know January transfer market, it’s always special, and you need to be prepared for everything and that’s what we’re going to do.”
In midweek you said you needed players who were committed; do you get a sense that he is committed?
“Yeah, clearly. OK you don’t know me that long maybe but if he was not committed he would never have played against Hertha or against Copenhagen, clearly. So no he’s committed to the club and what he has to do here, everything, training. Otherwise they will never come on the pitch.”
How difficult is it to manage players in this transfer window when things can change quickly? Maybe they have got other things in play, for example a summer tournament, all these things are swirling around.
“It’s part of our job. It’s not the most pleasant period. I had moments in the past also that your best player for example wants to leave in January because he gets an offer that he cannot refuse. So you have a lot of talks with them, with their agents, with their wives, with their family, with everybody, to keep them in the club. That’s not been the case until now here. So no it’s always a challenging period and I’m always happy when it’s the 1st of February that there’s a clear plan, that there’s a clear squad, because there is always a lot of rumour, noise. You get a lot of questions about that although you cannot say much because it’s about sometimes, most of the time the moment itself to decide yes or no. So we will see, I know what the situation is. Until now I don’t have from any player here that they are jumping to leave the building. I feel that everybody is really involved in the club and in what’s going on here. That’s already a positive thing, I had already other experiences in that way, but it doesn’t mean that tomorrow that can start. I know, I have been now more than 30 years in this world so I know how fast things can go. But I will select players who are committed to the club.”
In terms of incomings Philippe, have you progressed with that at all? Have you got a number of how many players you want to come in before the end of the window?
“Same answer as the last ten times. Yes we have a number, yes we are aligned about that in the club. Did we progress? Probably yes because there have been longer talks, more talks. Does it mean that we’re at the end of the road? No, because there is nobody who signs yet otherwise you would be the first to know. That I can promise. Not personally but we will announce it directly.”
I have got to ask you about a player the club have been linked with; Aberdeen midfielder Connor Barron. Is he a player you’re interested in? Is he someone that Rangers are interested in?
“No, really, with all respect towards you guys. I am not going to discuss every player that there is rumours about. I have read the most crazy things the last couple of weeks already so we’re not going to go in that game because otherwise I will not have a life anymore. And it’s not respectful also towards to players that you’re not interested in, or teams who have players you’re not interested in, so I never go into rumours about any player. I will speak about players when they’re in the building.”
Just in terms of players that are here, how are we looking injury-wise for the weekend? Obviously you’ve had some mid-season friendlies, everyone recovered ok? Anyone closer to recovery?
“No not ok. So Kieran Dowell get injured in training camp so he will be out for a while. Kemar (Roofe) is still injured. Dani will be injured probably until the last weeks of the season, so we don’t expect him much faster back. Ben Davies is the one who is closest to coming back. All the rest have trained.”
Just with Dowell, what is the injury specifically?
“It’s his ankle. So we need to see what is the best way to treat it that he can come back and in the fastest, healthy way.”
Philippe you said there things have progressed with regard to potential recruitment. Is that for one target or are you talking more than one target?
“Good question, I almost got caught there. No, we will see if it’s one or more. We have our plan altogether and for me the most important thing in this period I feel that everybody is aligned, that the club really wants to make effort to do things inside of the budget. And we are not the most wealthy club in the world. So we want to get transfers in that can have impact now but also can have added value for the next couple of years on the field and selling them for bigger amounts. Because if you look back the last couple of years this is also one thing that the club has missed. They didn’t have big outgoing transfers and because of that getting money to do other things. So we need to get better in that. That’s also one of the targets. It’s strange as a manager to talk about that but I know what the story is and I want to help in that way so that the club can grow in every sense.”
You’ve signed (Fabio) Silva on loan, so are you suggesting there that the deals that you do or any deals that you do this month will be permanent ones?
“No I don’t suggest anything.”
Just in terms of what you’re saying in terms of players having a good sell-on value when they leave the club.
“Yeah but we will see what the situation is. I would’ve preferred to buy Fabio but he was too expensive for the club so that’s why it’s a loan now.”
On that transfer model does that mean you need to look at – what’s the word I’m looking for – not project players but less experienced players that you can develop and then sell?
“No but it’s not only about that it’s getting a good balance in everything in your squad. You need to have experienced players who have experience, who can guide the story, together with me of course, that are aligned about that. So you need that, you need a good balance. But you need to also have to have young prospects that you can let them grow in one moment that they can grow to a higher level than Glasgow Rangers. That needs to be the objective. And you need a good balance in the way you work and you need to have players that are in contract in your club. So like this season to have five players out of contract, it’s a crazy situation because you throw away money. There of no value any more if the contract is ended. So there’s a lot of work to be done in that way, everybody in the club is working hard in that way to have now a clear vision of how to bring money into the club in that way by developing the players but getting results also, winning trophies. It’s all of that together, it’s not based on one thing. And that you don’t come in a situation that players of value going end of contract and can go free. It’s a situation in a well-leaded club that can never happen.”
With those players that are out of contract Philippe when will you sit down with them and when will you discuss their longer-term futures? Is that for further down the road?
“It’s case by case, it depends how they perform the last couple of months. And it’s not only with me. I’m not the guy from the money, I’m the guy from the sporty side. Luckily, otherwise I would be poor really fast because I don’t have that money. So I will give my opinion about that like always and that’s the good thing in the club. It’s really transparent. Everybody is doing this talk, everybody is doing it together. It’s not a political club where some people are talking that way and others are talking that way. So everybody is really aligned. It doesn’t mean that you always agree. You have discussions about things, but it needs to be that way.”
Have you made any contract offers to any of those players yet?
“That’s personal between the club – and it’s not me again, it’s the club – it’s between the club and the players those things.”
Philippe you mentioned Danilo there has his recovery taken longer?
“No, no it was a really severe injury. No, it’s normal. It’s a normal problem.”
Philippe in terms of the weekend then, how much are you looking forward to getting your Scottish Cup journey started and also going away to a ground that you might not play in every week, just one stand, a League Two side, you looking forward to that, looking forward to taking your team there?
“I’m looking forward to games. Games who are important, though these friendly games are for me also important, but we need to look at that moment to get as many minutes as possible for everybody to prepare the second round of our season. So, it’s a different way. It’s an important game and you can only make maximum five changes so different rules.”
What do you expect from Dumbarton? League Two opposition, harder to perhaps see footage of.
“No we’ve seen enough footage, don’t worry about that. The pitch is really bad, it’s really bad. It is what it is. I’ve said it before also. One game, I don’t want excuses from my players. If we need to play, I said it that moment also, in the parking, the we’re going to do that. Is it a good way for football to have those circumstances? Maybe not, but we are not the one who are deciding the rules. So we are playing the game and we do our best in everything to make it as good as possible. With a bad pitch, will the quality go down in the football? Yes. Like we’ve seen the difference between Hertha and Copenhagen was also because of the pitch a big difference in quality of football, so we need to adapt to that and adapt what we need to do. But I feel the team is ready, they are hungry to be back in competition. They’ve been working really hard in training camp. They were really tired after that and that was good but I see freshness again and everybody is hungry for the second part of the season.”
