Philippe Clement’s time on the French Riviera fizzed out after he failed to lead Monaco back into the glitz-and-glamour world of the Champions League.
But the Rangers boss is back in town hoping to sprinkle a bit of Europa League sparkle on a campaign that is fast turning into a damp squib for the Ibrox outfit. The big Belgian spent 18 months living among the Principality’s rich and famous inhabitants after leaving Club Brugge.
In a strikingly similar pattern to his rollercoaster Rangers career, a bright start packed with soaring highs soon gave way to brutal lows. He was finally handed his jotters in June last year after a late collapse saw his early-season title contenders miss out on European qualification.
The same grim fate has yet to befall the beleaguered Ibrox boss in Glasgow but if he is to avoid being axed, he could do with his team maintaining their impressive form in Uefa competition when they take on Nice. A side that has fallen a massive 11 points off the Premiership pace at home is curiously just one win away from joining the rest of the Europa League’s big hitters in the knock-out rounds.
Clement may have left the Côte d’Azur after a losing run but he insists he’s come back to win.
The under pressure Ibrox boss, speaking 20 minutes along France’s south-eastern coast from his former home, said: “It’s special to be back, I had a really good time here. I enjoyed living here, I met some really nice people. A lot of friends will come to watch this game also.
“This feels like a place where you were in a really good way. So I’m happy to be back. But I’m not here for a holiday, or to meet people, or to have talks with a lot of people. I’m here to work. I’m here to win together with the guys, to do everything to win this game because it’s a massive game.
“For Nice (who have picked up just two points from their first four fixtures), even more than for us, they have to win this one, clearly. We’re going to go, like always against every opponent, we will try to go for the win. We never play for a loss.
“So if you can win here, I think we make a really big step in the qualification, or you’re almost certain of that. And taking a point can also be a really important point at the end. But we will go for the three points, against a really good team.
“And that’s something that we’re trying to correct in the league. As I said, everyone’s looking forward to, it’s a great opportunity for us. Another week in Europe with a lot of travelling support, so everyone’s looking forward to it.”
The Rangers faithful have been driven crazy by a schizophrenic side that, a lettering from Lyon apart, has more than held its own in the Europa League while repeatedly suffering repeated set-backs domestically. And Clement admits the challenge is getting his team to replicate their foreign form at home.
He said: ”It has to do with the kind of games also maybe but also, domestically we need to do better. We’ve had a few good ones domestically but not enough for the standards of Rangers. So we’re working hard on that. For me the second half against Dundee United was good at the weekend but if you play 90 minutes like that, then even with one goal against you score four or five.
“Now it was our game that we had the most shots this season on target in the league. The most times that we came into the box of the opponent in the league this season. So a lot of things went good but you get one chance against one ball on target and we made a big mistake there
“Now we need to take the right conclusions and focus on this game against Nice. But I don’t agree with the story that out style of playing suits Europe but doesn’t suit domestic football. We’ve had Ianis Hagi not being available for the squad for a long time, the injury of Tom Lawrence, of Oscar Cortes, of Rabbi Matondo.
“We lost a lot of creativity in that way, and we had to find another solution. Nedim Bajrami has been playing a lot on the left side, but he can play also in the midfield.
“And Nedim and Vaclav Cerny had to play all the games also with the national team. So those are things that are taken into account, so getting all these players back will also raise our freshness in our offensive part, and will raise our creativity also.”
Clement will have to do without the ineligible pair of Hagi and Danilo. But he’s hopeful of having more options to work with in the coming weeks. He said: “We’ve had big periods with 12 players out.
“But Oscar did his first part of the training today, so he will need still a few more weeks to be really ready to play games, but it’s a positive thing. Tom is also closing in the next couple of weeks, he will be back. Rabbi will do the same, and we want to keep it in that way.”