Alex Rae was never going to leave Rangers wanting when he received the call to go back into Ibrox even before Philippe Clement was appointed as manager.
The former Rangers midfielder, 55, bleeds blue and was part of the Steven Davis interim management team who took charge of two games following the sacking of Michael Beale.
Alex Rae was then kept on as Philippe Clement’s homegrown assistant and the former Sunderland and Wolves star remained at Ibrox until Clement’s sacking back in February.
Speaking for the first time since Rangers relieved the former Ibrox midfielder of his duties, Rae has paid tribute to Clement for being the ‘first in and last out’ at Auchenhowie.
But the former Rangers star has also given an insight into what went wrong for the doomed Ibrox manager in Glasgow as Barry Ferguson picks up the reins.
Alex Rae offers Philippe Clement Rangers sympathies
Alex Rae reckons Philippe Clement was unlucky to come into Rangers during a time of substantial upheaval on and off the park.
The Rangers squad was ripped up in the summer with several of the club’s longest-serving players either moving on at the end of their contract or being shipped out.
In their place Rangers signed a host of young talents with the aim of boosting the club’s player trading potential, cutting £6m from the Ibrox wage bill in the process.
| Rangers summer transfer window 23/24 | |
| IN | OUT |
| Mohamed Diomande – 23 (£4.3m, FC Nordsjælland) | Sam Lammers – 27 (FC Twente) |
| Nedim Bajrami – 26 (£3.4m, Sassuolo) | Connor Goldson – 32 (Aris Limassol) |
| Hamza Igamane – 22 (£1.7m, FAR Rabat) | Todd Cantwell – 27 (Blackburn Rovers) |
| Robin Propper – 31 (£1.5m, FC Twente) | Scott Wright – 27 (Birmingham City) |
| Jefte – 21 (£680k, Fluminense) | Robby McCrorie – 26 (Kilmarnock) |
| Connor Barron – 22 (£620k, Aberdeen) | Ben Davies – 29 (Birmingham City) |
| Liam Kelly – 29 (free transfer, Motherwell) | Jose Cifuentes – 26 (Aris Thessaloniki) |
| Clinton Nsiala – 21 (free transfer, AC Milan | John Lundstram – 31 (Trabzonspor) |
| Neraysho Kasanwirjo – 23 (loan, Feyenoord) | Borna Barisic – 32 (Trabzonspor) |
| Oscar Cortes – 21 (loan with £4m mandatory purchase option, RC Lens) | Ryan Jack – 33 (Erokspor) |
| Vaclav Cerny – 27 (loan, Wolfsburg) | Kemar Roofe – 32 (Derby County) |
| ———————— | Jon McLaughlin – 37 (Swansea City) |
| TOTAL COST: £12.2m (£16.2m with Oscar Cortes) | TOTAL COST: £800k |
| AVERAGE AGE: 24.18 | AVERAGE AGE: 29.92 |
It’s that seismic change in direction that has Rae sympathising with Clement, the ex-Club Brugge manager losing a wealth of experience before a ball had been kicked this season.
“I’ve only got a huge amount of respect for Philippe,” Rae told GO Radio. “I thought he was a great guy.
”Unfortunately when he came in it was probably a real transitional period where, if you think about the players that went out in the summer, Connor Goldson, John Lundstram, Borna Barisic.
”There’ll be an argument to say that they were coming towards the end of their time, Kemar Roofe, guys that had actually done well to get them to Seville and win the league title a couple of years ago.
”They were trying to get to a place where they were buying younger players and then developing them, doing similar to what Celtic do really.
”In doing that they took a hell of a lot of experience out of the camp as well and these guys were learning on the ground.
”I think there’s a balance to be had and I think they went actually went too far getting rid of all of that experience.
”But listen it was needed as well because obviously the wage budget was reduced considerably in the summer.”
Alex Rae ‘expects’ US takeover to target experience
Rae’s Rangers exit also comes at a time when the Ibrox club are going through a US takeover with the deal now expected to be completed by the end of May.
A consortium headed by US sports group 49ers Enterprises and healthcare mogul Andrew Cavanagh look set to transform the commercial outlook at Rangers.
For Alex Rae – who joined Rangers in his mid 30s – the first port of call for the club’s new investors will be to invest in some experience to supplement the clear talent in the Rangers squad.
The Rangers midfielder reckons this could be the difference between spilling points at away grounds around the country and winning those tough battles at Pittodrie, Easter Road and Tynecastle.
”When you think about some of the boys that they brought in”, said Rae.
”Jefte, Diomande was signed permanently, then you have Igamane. There was a lot, Connor Barron was brought in as well.
”They really need to find their feet. I wouldn’t have expected them to hit the ground running and be 9 out 10 every week.
| Most Rangers appearances in current squad | Number |
| 1 – James Tavernier | 501 |
| 2 – Ianis Hagi | 122 |
| 3 – Leon Balogun | 105 |
| 4 – Cyriel Dessers | 97 |
| 5 – Jack Butland | 96 |
| 6 – John Souttar | 84 |
| 7 – Ridvan Yilmaz | 72 |
| 8 – Dujon Sterling | 65 |
| 9 – Ross McCausland | 64 |
| 10 – Tom Lawrence | 63 |
”Within that group (that Rae joined in 2004) then you had a lot of guys round about the mid-20s who could navigate through a championship, who could go to Hibs, go to Dundee, they could to Hearts, Aberdeen, and get the results required.
”They need that time to actually get there but they also need support as well and I think in the summer, if this takeover happens, I would expect a few people to compliment what these young boys are trying to do.”
