Philippe Clement admits he’s no fan of Rangers’ relentless winter workload – but insists he won’t allow that to be used as an excuse.
The Ibrox boss knows his team are being pushed to the limit by the gruelling calendar enforced upon teams across the continent this season by UEFA’s new look European competitions. Gers were able to rest and recover from their Hampden heartbreaker in the Premier Sports Cup final as they enjoyed a rare free midweek.
But they won’t get another until the first week of February after SPFL bosses were forced to scrap the annual January shut-down. In the meantime, there will be no time to catch breath as Rangers prepare for a lung-bursting run of 12 back-to-back fixtures.
That hectic schedule starts with the Boxing Day trip to St Mirren and also includes a huge Old Firm showdown with Celtic on January 2 and key Europa League clashes against Manchester United and Union Saint-Gilloise. But Clement doesn’t want to hear his men complaining.
He said: “This is the first time in the history of football that this has happened, for everybody, so we need to have a squad that’s physically but also mentally ready for that. So the more you complain about that, the more you give excuses — and I don’t want to give excuses to the team because they all want to play football, they all want to win things.
“So this is the situation. It’s like running a marathon but only wanting to run 20 miles. That doesn’t happen. Those are the rules, that’s what was decided. Is it good for football? I don’t think so and everybody agrees with that. But we need to focus on ourselves and be ready. And in that way it can be an advantage for our group of players that there needs to be a rotation.
“It means everybody has to be on their toes, ready to show themselves as there is more opportunity to get chances. But then you need to keep the same quality and that’s going to be the challenge for us in the next few weeks.”
John Souttar will sit out the remainder of 2024 after limping off in the Europa League draw with Tottenham.
And with Neraysho Kasanwirjo out long-term, Gers will look at bringing in defensive reinforcements. But Clement was stoney faced when quizzed on whether calling Ben Davies back from his Birmingham loan was an option.
He said: “I don’t want to speak about those things because we didn’t go into details on those things inside the club.”
And he says questions on whether Gers have the funds to sign big in January should be diverted to new CEO Patrick Stewart. Clement continued: “That’s now the good thing, I had to speak a lot about that during the last transfer window.
“And yet it’s totally not my responsibility in the club. It’s my responsibility to work with the players who are there, to help the club find players together and then to make right decisions about the budget. But about the budget, I don’t have any influence. So Patrick is really happy to take that on his shoulders and speak with you guys in the next couple of weeks.”