German-Italian manager spotted in Switzerland as links swirl surrounding Rangers job
11/23/2024 03:00 AM
The Ibrox future of Belgian manager Philippe Clement is a near constant source of debate amongst Rangers supporters.
The former Club Brugge and AS Monaco manager has had to navigate his fair share of obstacles at Ibrox but the jury remains out, at least amongst fans, over whether the 50-year-old is the man to lead the club into a new era.
For the time being, all things considered, Philippe Clement is the captain that is being entrusted to change Rangers' course.
A spectacular level of squad mismanagement has led to Rangers surrendering their brief domestic dominance with Celtic's fully-functional player trading model the envy of the Ibrox boardroom.
Clement's been entrusted to get Rangers' transfer dealings into a position to rival our Old Firm counterparts, but will the lure of the Belgium manager's job prove a bigger temptation than Ibrox?
Well according to the man himself, absolutely not.
Philippe Clement responds to Belgium links
"A few weeks ago you were here also in the press conference," Clement told the press ahead of the Dundee United game as speculation mounts over the Belgium manager's job.
Clement has been increasingly linked to the job as the pressure mounts on current manager Domenico Tedesco, with links to Belgium sporting director and ex-Club Brugge CEO Vincent Mannaert only intensifying matters.
"I hope you remember what I said there. I don't want to go into rumours about players, so I'm not going to go into rumours about those things.
"But I was really clear that I said that I engaged myself for the long term to Rangers and I'm not going to change my mind on that.
"So I think it's very clear. I hope now, in the future, if something else comes, that you don't come with this question anymore."
No case for Rangers manager to answer
Philippe Clement's response comes with the Rangers manager being linked to the Belgium job as the pressure mounts on Domenico Tedesco.
The German-Italian manager has previous with Rangers – Tedesco was in charge of RB Leipzig for the 2022 Europa League semi-final – and perhaps the Ibrox club would come back to haunt the 39-year-old for the second time in his young career.
But as it transpires, Philippe Clement will not be making himself available for Belgium and is fully committed to Rangers, even if chatter persists in the stands.
We've written previously about how, for the time being at least, Rangers are married to Clement and that fans would save themselves a headache if they got behind the boss.
Besides, the links to Belgium are a moot point at the time of writing.
Whilst Clement was named as one of three Belgium alternatives, Domenico Tedesco remains the Red Devils' boss.
It comes after the manager was spotted in Switzerland as part of the UEFA Nations League Playoff draw, where Belgium have been matched against Ukraine.
