Philippe Clement emphasised that he is fully focused on the UEFA Europa League challenge of OGC Nice on Thursday evening and is not prepared to discuss any club issues concerning the Board of Directors.
“I’m not aware of any Board discussions following the Dundee United game last Saturday. I’m not concerned about that – I’m busy with the team and with getting results. As I said at the weekend I was as disappointed as everyone else with the result. We didn’t show enough quality in the first-half but it was a game that we would win nine times out of ten or even 99 times out of one hundred if you create that amount of chances. We could have scored four or five goals because we were up against a very good goalkeeper.”
Clement underlined the changes at the club since his arrival – emphasising that time is of the essence.
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“Everybody is talking about the last year- but the reality is the past four months to rebuild. A lot of things have changed at the club – the Chairman is not there any more, the CEO is not there any more, the Director of Operations and the Academy Director are not there any more and a lot of other people as well. I’m really happy that we now have a new Chief Executive – it’s a major step forward.
“Sixteen players have left – we are building a new squad. There have been good moments. Good games and good results – but we have also lost points that we didn’t want to lose. We are working very hard to get more consistency domestically. I don’t want to use excuses and I don’t want my players to use excuses. It’s all about winning – we have a lot of young players who don’t have the experience of that.”
He also underlined the on-going problem of a lengthy injury list.
“Oscar Cortes and Tom Lawrence are close to returning. We lost a lot of players, including Danilo, Rabbi Matondo and Ianis Hagi who have all been unavailable.”
Clement of course did work at AS Monaco some time ago.
“It’s special to be back – I enjoyed living here but I’m not here for a holiday. This is a massive game for both Nice and ourselves. A win would be a major step towards qualification.”
Rangers go into Thursday evening’s encounter on an undefeated run of six European away fixtures under the Ibrox Boss – but the challenge of OGC Nice will undoubtedly be a formidable one. Indeed one need look no further back than the visit of Olympique Lyon to Ibrox in early-October when the French visitors underlined their class with a 4-1 win.
Nice currently lie 31st in the UEFA Europa League table with just two points from their opening four fixtures – both secured at home with draws against Real Sociedad and Twente Enschede. Indeed they are unbeaten on their own turf all season.
The French side of course were the very first opponents faced by the Ibrox men in European competition back in Season 1956-57 when in the early and less-commercially obsessed European Champions’ Cup it took three games to settle the outcome of the tie with each side chalking up 2-1 wins at home, forcing the necessity of a Play-Off in Paris, won 3-1 by Nice. Indeed the Light Blues had to make three journeys to France with the Second Leg postponed due to the Stade Du Ray being waterlogged in monsoon rain. So much for the ‘Cote D’Azur’…!
Thankfully conditions at the ‘Allianz Riviera’ on Thursday evening should be markedly different.
Robert McElroy