Philippe Clement insisted he had no magic wand when he joined Rangers, but ex-chairman Dave King certainly thinks the Belgian is magic.
Big Phil, 50, has Rangers in the hunt for a legendary treble after guiding the club to its first League Cup in the best part of 13 years at the end of 2023.
There’s still a lot to do before we can get there, mind.
But whilst Dave King admits that things are getting “exciting” at Rangers, the Ibrox side’s biggest individual shareholder worries that any Philippe Clement success might attract the best of the best.
Dave King’s Philippe Clement fear
Speaking in an excellent interview with the Rangers Review, Dave King reckons that the managerial talent pool is about as low and empty as it has been in a long time.
So much so that when the former Rangers chairman assesses the hopes of some of football’s biggest clubs bringing new managers in this summer, the list is an increasingly short one.
With Liverpool, Bayern, and Barcelona all on the hunt for new bosses come the end of the season, there are only a few names doing the rounds at the elite level of the game.
It’s something which Dave King believes will see someone pounce sooner rather than later with Philippe Clement’s story at Rangers inevitably having one conclusion.
“I really think we have got a platform now and I just hope we are able to keep the manager,” King said.
“If you look at it right now and the international market for managers, I am watching it a lot with the Liverpool situation, and I say ‘Where is the quality of manager?’
“Liverpool are looking for a manager, I think [Manchester] Utd will be looking for a manager, we have got Barcelona looking for a manager, Bayern looking for a manager.
“You look out there and ask ‘Where are these managers?’ I would think that our present manager, particularly given that [Ange] Postecoglou has done so well with Spurs as well, I think we are going to have to work hard to hold onto him because there is a dearth of really good managers out there.”
Rangers manager makes ex-chairman “confident”
Dave King is clearly a big fan of the Rangers manager and the comments surrounding Philippe Clement come at an interesting juncture.
With Celtic on the horizon and the opportunity to open a five point lead in the next 180 minutes of football, Rangers’ neck could very well be about to stretch out in front in the title race.
And with the finish line within eyeshot in the distance.
Rangers fans – of which Dave King very much is one – know just how important the games with Celtic and Dundee are.
But not matter what happens it likely won’t stop them, King included, getting excited about the potential impact of the club’s new manager.
“I am very excited about him,” said King “He is the first manager for the last 25, 30 years who I have never personally met. Even going back to David Murray’s days, I knew the managers.
“It does help to have a certain sense of them as a person. You can see their personal characteristics, who they are as a man, what they are like outside of the football environment.
“I haven’t had that opportunity because I haven’t met the new manager yet. But I just look at the way the club is going about their business, not just what is said. There are certain soundbites that every player gives you and every manager gives you.
“Look at what is happening on the park. There is a discernible shape, there is a camaraderie, there is something about how he has got the guys working that makes it obvious that it is a factor that he has introduced, that he has instilled. You can see that visibly on the park.
“Even when things are not going well, there is a united purpose in the team even though the quality hasn’t improved, because some of our signings haven’t been giving us game time, the guys who were there have got a cohesiveness. That has to have come from the manager because it changed quickly. That is why I am confident now with him in charge.”
In another part of the interview with the Rangers Review – which was split into two parts on their website – King spoke about his view on the Douglas Park regime.
