Philippe Clement breaks silence on Celtic’s 7-point lead

Philippe Clement will surely know that he has a mountain to climb if is to have any chance of getting the Rangers back in the title race. That is an unexpected thing to say in October and yet, that is the situation in the Premiership right now. The Ibrox club already find themselves seven points behind Celtic in the table.

It is this that saw Michael Beale being shown the exit door. The Englishman had been hailed as the chosen one by many when he arrived. He did not last even a year in the Ibrox hot seat.

It remains to be seen how things turn out for Clement. He arrives with a big reputation as well. He was the manager of AS Monaco before this.

Clement also won three straight league titles during his time managing in Belgium. So, he does know what it takes to be a winner. Can he guide the Rangers to silverware though?

Clement breaks silence on Celtic’s 7-point lead

It looks like Clement is viewing things a day at a time right now rather than looking too far ahead. As reported by 67 Hail Hail, the new Rangers manager said on Sky Sports when asked about the gap between the two Glasgow teams:

"“It’s now important that we focus on ourselves and that we focus on what we have to do to become better, to get more points, to play better football, get fans behind the team and get a better dynamic again. Not to look far ahead to what’s going to happen in six months.“It’s about now, next weeks, next month, week by week building a story. There will be some bumps on the way but then to stay confident.“For me, it’s like a marathon. So we can try to focus on the seven points now and sprint really hard and lose our legs to that, or to be focused on the guy in front of us who is running, to get their pace. No, we need to get our pace in a better way and we need to get a good tempo to make this comeback during the season.”"

There is no doubt that Clement comes in amidst high expectations. He does have more pedigree than the Rangers’ recent managers.

But at the same time, one cannot forget that Celtic have Brendan Rodgers in the Parkhead hot seat. The Northern Irishman is a proven winner at the highest of levels and has already outlasted a long list of Rangers managers.

It remains to be seen how he deals with the challenge that Clement will bring to the table. One would have to consider Rodgers as the favourite to come out on top though.