Philippe Clement track record analysed as new Rangers boss’ reign begins

After a thorough recruitment process over the past fortnight, Sunday morning saw Philippe Clement named the successor to Michael Beale as the 19th manager of Rangers.

The Belgian was one of the front runners for the job right from the minute the role became vacant following Beale’s sacking and, having supposedly turned down a lucrative offer from Saudi Arabia, will look to turn around a side who had faltered badly since the season began.

Now aged 49, Clement has spent almost his entire footballing career in his native land, most notably at Club Brugge as both a player and a manager.

Almost half of his appearances during his on-field career came in Bruges, with 256 games for the club, with stints at Genk and Germinal Beerschot at the start and tail ends of his career.

Sandwiched between these was a year in England under Gordan Strachan for Coventry in the 1998-99 season, where he played alongside the likes of Gary McAllister and George Boateng, not to mention Mr Laptop himself Gavin Strachan.

Upon hanging up his boots in 2011, he’d have two caretaker roles at Brugge in 2012 and 2013, it’d take until 2017 for Clement to get his first permanent managerial role at Waasland-Beveren where after just six months, he’d go on to land a bigger role at Genk.

In the following four years, three Belgian championships would follow, firstly with Genk and then again with Club Brugge, registering over 50 per cent win rates at both clubs.

In fact, looking at his first three jobs, he actually won championships in his only full seasons he spent at each of these clubs.

Yes, things didn’t quite work out for him overall at Monaco, but when he originally took on the role, he led them up from 9th into the Champions League places.

So let’s hope he can build on this success when he roles up at Ibrox this week.