Clement marker set with no-nonsense Rangers boss

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Philippe Clement is a big man, as a former centre-half who played most of his football in the ‘90s, the new Rangers manager isn’t afraid to get stuck in.

There has been a soft core to the Light Blues this season with too many players getting away with sub-par performances for too long.

One thing Philippe Clement won’t tolerate in his time at Rangers is players going rogue, as a story revealed by The Rangers Review explains.

Phillipe Clement shows no-nonsense side Rangers are getting

In a Champions League group stage game with Club Brugge, Clement found his side 1-0 down only for substitute striker Mbaye Diagne to win a penalty.

Despite not being the designated taker, the Senegal international took and subsequently missed the spot kick and was never seen in the black and blue of Brugge again.

After the game Philippe Clement showed a side of himself that will be needed at Rangers where a tolerance of the mediocre has festered for too long, via The Rangers Review:

“He’ll not appear in my team for our next league match and I will decide in the coming weeks or months for a possible return to the team. There’ll also be a very heavy financial penalty.

“It was a dumb mistake. A mistake that had consequences for the result and we are all very angry about it.

“This sort of incident leads to emotions and there was a confrontation in the changing room after, but it was verbal and not physical. Diagne realised he made a mistake and did not argue back.”

Philippe Clement is an imposing figure, at over 6ft 3inches tall, there will be few Rangers players in the dressing room bigger than him.

This week, he will be setting standards as much as he will be trying to refocus a team that has lost its way and get them playing decent football again.

Diagne might “only” have cost his team a couple of points in the Champions League with his decision and Clement’s actions might seem harsh.

What it did though, was let the Brugge squad know in no uncertain terms what it expected of them.

It’s a level of discipline that has long since been needed at Rangers, not that any player would get close to getting the ball of James Tavernier for penalties, mind you.