Philippe Clement has urged Rangers to block out the noise.
From the Pittodrie hecklers, to the title doubters to the online trolls. Clement has been there. He’s suffered it all himself. And he’s adamant his Ibrox stars can shield themselves from the snide remarks.
In a world where kids can’t even escape bullies in the safety of their own homes due to technology, it’s ignoring the outside talk. When asked if winning tonight’s title crunch at Pittodrie could be the launch pad for an up-and-down campaign and show others they are still right in the title fight, Clement had a clear message. He said: “Maybe it’s better that they don’t think we’re in the fight, that they underestimate us at the end. No, we are just focused on ourselves and not on all this noise and things around.
“It part of football and it’s changed a lot in the last 10 years, but players need to learn that also. Vaclav [Cerny] was also a really good example because he was really, really touched by all the comments that he got after a moment in Lyon.
“And he cut out his Insta after a good talk about that. Because it’s of no use. It’s totally of no use to live in these emotions because then you can never create stability. There’s not one person in the world who is every day at his best.
“But that’s what’s expected from all the players and we’re pushing in that way. We’re looking at who’s at one moment of the season in the best way, also in moments that they didn’t perform in their best. You also need to give them confidence to react in that way. So, if I would listen and read all of that, then I would make a lot of bad calls.”
Clement has spoken to more than Cerny about it as he continued: “Yeah, that’s a different world. And in that way, we’re still working on making steps with the group. And it’s not only about noise and all those things. It’s also about playing every three days, so we’re working on all these things with a lot of players where it’s the first time that they are in this situation.
“This club is about winning every game. If you win, it’s good or it’s normal. And if you lose, everything is really bad. So, you need to live with that.”
It’s changed since Clement’s days as he added: “At that moment, everything was just cut in stone! No, it’s a big difference. It’s a different life. But I also had an experience in that way when I was a player.
“I was already 30, it was the first time the fan forum at my club where I was captain. It was something new, something exciting because you could read afterwards what people, fans, were thinking about you. Everybody looked at us.
“Then you start to see, okay, this profile is really somebody who knows about football because he thinks I’m a really good player. And the other one, always critical for me, so he doesn’t know too much about football. That was the reaction of every player. Human [nature].
“After six months or something that the forum was there, we had a fan day at the club and I had to be the referee for a game for all the people from the fan forum.
“I was really interested in who were the guys who knew everything about football and who were the guys who knew less. At the end, I saw that there was nobody really good at playing football, but they were good at recognising it or not recognising it, from my side.
“So it’s not only what you see on the pitch, it’s also all the things around. Life, dressing room, training, you need all those things in the process. I understand that people that have never been in a dressing room. Sometimes you cannot spread this message if you didn’t live it.
“I learned from that moment also to accept it more, not to put so much attention to it. That was a good lesson.
“It’s a new world, it’s not only football because we cannot exaggerate that. It’s society. It’s with children also. “When you were a young child in my time, you could have been bullied. I never had it, luckily. I was one of the taller ones.
“You could have been bullied during school hours and you came home in a safe environment. And now children can be bullied all the time because it’s by the phone. And they have their phone all the time in their hands. It’s society.
“The world has changed in that way and we all need to adapt. For players, it’s different now than 20 years ago. I cannot say if it’s harder or not. There are other difficulties.
“All these players are human beings. Like all the players are in the world. And everybody can also have less a good day than other days and be in problems because of that.
“People don’t see everything that’s going on in the building. Only results or one moment. Oh, this is a really good player. And next week he doesn’t score and it’s a really bad player.
“Cerny is a really good example in that way. Two, three weeks ago he was for some people a really bad player. And then he scored five goals in four games.
“So, it’s important as a player, manager, club not to have those emotions. Because if you do, you will never create stability. It’s about looking at the reality.”