I could have closed gap to Celtic, insists former Rangers boss Philippe Clement

Belfast Telegraph

4 hours ago

Clement felt he was working on a long-term project after the board told him to cut the wage bill last summer and develop younger players to fuel future spending.
But his reign ended in February after back-to-back home defeats by Queen's Park and St Mirren left them out of the Scottish Cup and 13 points adrift of Celtic in the Premiership.
Russell Martin has now been installed as his permanent successor after an interim stint from Barry Ferguson and the financial backdrop has changed following a takeover by an American consortium.
'It's a pity that the story stopped, that the board didn't have the patience or maybe listened too much to some fans,' Clement told BBC Scotland.
'There are other clubs where there is a difficult moment and everybody sticks together because everybody knows the story, how the work is done inside the building, and they continue and they are successful afterwards.
'In three or four windows, we could have closed the gap with a good development of players, but the decision is made and you need to accept it.'
Clement pointed out that this time last year he was told the club's spending was not sustainable
'There was not fresh investment in the club, but the money available for the transfers would be the sale of players, so the amount you can get out of that,' he added.
'That was not much at the end, because the squad was with a lot of older players. So people didn't want to pay any more for them. Six players were out of contract, so they left for free.'
The Belgian added that the wage bill was cut by 35 per cent in order to rebuild the squad.
'And the idea was, and that was clearly said at the board, that the club needed three, four transfer windows to get at the level of Celtic, because you have to gain money again by bringing young players in, developing them, making them better, selling them and getting money to make the squad better and better in the next two, three years,' he added.
Clement believes progress has been made in that sense with the development of the likes of Nico Raskin, Jefte, Hamza Igamane and Clinton Nsiala.
'If they say there's no new investment, I now understand why,' he said. 'Because at the end, some people were already thinking about selling the club and selling their stocks.'
Clement claimed Rangers under-achieved domestically but over-achieved in the Europa League and felt some players were not ready for the demands of competing on both fronts.
'I think it's normal in the financial situation the club was, but it's not good enough,' he said.
'But you need patience then to build it or you need to spend money. It's one of the two. Without one of the two, it's an impossible job.'
Clement hopes his successor gets that backing.
'I hope that there comes stability, to work in a good way with the players, with the staff, with everybody in the club, to have a consistent story,' he said.
'I think that's a big part that the club has been lacking for years and I hope that the new owners can bring that for the club and for the manager also, for the players.'