Every word of Philippe's Clement's first Rangers press conference

How have you found the first couple of days and to be here as Rangers manager?

First, nice to meet you all for the first time. I am really delighted to be here. It is hectic day but it is normal if you step into this part of the season, it is always different than if you do it at the end of the season and you have six, seven weeks of preparation. It is not the first time like that so I knew what would happen. I am really delighted to be here. You guys see it also, in an iconic stadium at a club with a lot of fans and that was one of the things that I was looking for.

What are the short-term and long-term objectives, goals and targets?

My short-term and long-term targets are always to win. I am about that. That is my life, it has always been my life. That is what I want. I know also there is a process to come to that point and we need to work on that. There are a lot of things we can make better and it is going to be a process week by week to make things better and to be focused on yourselves. That is a really important point. When I saw all of the games this season, I saw moments of frustration that the players really wanted it but they started to do the wrong things because their expectations were so high, from the fans also. We need now to create a very stable story together that everything is great for them and that we can play good football with good results.

What assurances did you seek given that the two previous managers were given a year?

I believe in the potential that this club has. I believe also in the people that I talked with in the last couple of weeks. It was a very genuine talk, very clear, also talking about the difficult points in the club. It was not only a fantastic story about how big the club is and only the positive point, but also the things they struggled with, the things they think need to be changed and why they speak with me about that. I spoke with them about the things I thought by seeing the games that could have been better. We were aligned about that. We spoke about the sporting director, what the role is, how it needs to be aligned also with the manager. We talked about a lot of things and that gave me the feeling that this is the right club to be now. We know we have a lot of work to do but we are very motivated to change several things as fast as possible.

How important are the next few weeks in terms of how the fans perceive you?

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I just work day and night really hard with the players to get the best out of them, then you need to get results on the pitch. Sometimes you have lucky days, sometimes you have unlucky days. I am somebody who looks past that. I know with the story with the way of working that it needs also a bit of time to implement everything, that is normal also. We speak about players moving together, we speak about offensive football, you need to automatise that, you need a lot of training around that before it becomes natural for the players. Sometimes it comes fast, sometimes it takes a little more time at all the teams I have been on. In the end, everywhere, there were the results, the good games. I know it will come. With the potential that is here for me in the club, the potential in the dressing room and the ambition the club has for the future to make the right decisions if some positions need to be strengthened.

How do you see the challenge of overcoming Celtic given that you are seven points behind?

It is not an advantage, of course, to be seven points behind. That is clear. I think one thing, the major thing, for the next weeks and maybe months, we will see, is that we need to be focused on ourselves. For me, a season is like a marathon and it is no use to look at this guy that is running in front of you all the time and then try to chase it with one big sprint and then not have the legs to do the marathon and to kill yourself. No, you need to focus on yourself, on your pace, that it is faster than before, better than before and that you can do all the marathon. It is not about the next two, three games, it is about a lot of games this season in a lot of competitions. We need to look at all those things, we need to focus on ourselves, not on other teams and to make our story better and better and better through the season. Then you get results in the end. Always.

What needs to be made better?

I know all my colleagues will be watching so I won’t give them more material! You guys have been speaking about this in the last couple of months so you know a lot of things. I know more because I’ve started to get to know the players better and it’s also my job with the staff and players to make things better. There are quite some things to do otherwise we would not be in this situation.

Your initial impressions of the squad?

At the moment I did not see it in total as a lot are on international games. We saw part of the squad and trained in the last two days with several young players from the academy - this is an important part of the job I’ve done with all my teams to bring through young players. To develop them, give them chances and grow step by step. We started with that and started to implement the first parts of the football we wanted to play. But for sure we don’t have all the players back so you cannot do it with the whole squad. The team that will start on Saturday was not on the pitch today.

What did Thomas Buffel tell you?

Thomas was very positive about the club - he had a great time here. He knows me really well, we played together on the national team and I was his coach at Genk. He told me this is a club that suits me. He knows I’m a winner who wants to go to the wall to win games. This is a mentality that this club needs and what the fans want. It’s fantastic to be in this stadium when everyone is behind you. And he told me he’s going to come to watch some games.

Philippe, what are the aims this season?

I already told you I want to win everything - that’s the mentality I have when I step into a building and I want to give this to the dressing room and create more and more winners. We’ll work really hard to get silverware as fast as possible. How fast it comes? I don’t have a crystal ball, I’m not a magician. I know if we can work long-time with players we can make them better. We talked about that a lot. How do to it? It was a really interesting talk with Graeme and the board - to the point. Not only will we do it but how? We talked a lot about the holistic way, of creating better athletes and football players. Stronger mentalities. It can also go really fast I think with this squad when they get confidence and the fans are behind them. It’s a really important thing in this club when the fans are behind you, this gives so much energy and you become so much stronger in every sense as a football player. This synergy between fans and players is going to be one of the major points over the next couple of weeks. It’s about me explaining this to the players and doing the right things on the pitch. I hope that the fans understand that and know how much power they have when they go behind players in a positive way.

What should fans expect in terms of football?

I like dominant football, I want to play dominant football. I did it at my first team SK Beveren, they played against relegation and we also played dominant football with them. In the beginning, it was pushing the players because nobody believed that would be possible but I saw they had the qualities to play attacking football with interchanging positions, people creating space for others but out of a good structure. You don’t want too many transitions and stupid goals because you’re not thinking about your structure. Outside of that structure - attacking football.

Can you offer more clarity as to who makes up the backroom staff?

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I have spoken with Steven over the last few days. For him, it is a totally new job and fresh start after being a player. It is a totally different job, and he now knows that and were laughing about how it is a different way of life to being a player. He is someone who has always been a leader by example, and he is taking his first steps into coaching life. I have also been in that situation many years ago and it is important to give people like that with the knowledge of the game, with the connection to the club, to give them chances and we will see over the next weeks and months what is the best role for him to start this new adventure.

Will James Tavernier remain the captain?

I do not see a reason to change that. I need to focus on many other things at the moment and step by step need to look at what is best for the club, but I do not see a reason for the moment to change that.

Are you confident Cyriel Dessers can be the man Rangers thought he was going to be?

I've seen Cyriel doing a better job in Holland than in Belgium also. He was better in Feyenoord than here. There's no reason he'll get more attention because he's a Belgian guy, all the players are starting from the same level. Whether you're Belgian, Scottish, British, 32 or 18, everybody starts the same.
Then we'll see who is in the best shape. We need a big squad where everyone is ready. We have a lot of games, so it is impossible to play with the same 11 players all the time. We need a big squad where everyone is involved.

What conversations did you have about transfers in January and the summer?

I was a part of it, like many parts of it. I like to see first what the potential is there already. I don’t want 10 new players every year and make lots of changes. I want to find the key to get the best out of people. We want to use the next weeks and months to do that in the best way. With me, every player starts with a blank slate, maybe not with the fans but that's a different conversation. They'll all get the chance. It is important to be aligned with the sporting director and have the same ideas about football. If it is someone who has totally different ideas about football then it does not work, we spoke about that also in the process. It is good that everyone is aligned, and we had really clear conversations about that.

How do you instil confidence in the players?

It is about putting the right goals towards games and the right things they have to do and I want players who are also not afraid tp fail and make mistakes because that is part of football. There is not one team in the world who are perfect in everything they do but they react correctly to mistakes. Those are things to work on. We do not have much time, as I said, we will see the team for two days and then we have the game so I do not expect it to be perfect yet but out of that we can work on the things that are good and not so good to make things better. It is not science; it is logical things and those are normal for me. We need to get all these things in place.

What qualities, as individuals, do you want the players to demonstrate?

For me, I have four pillars. I want to create in the club the best tactical team, physical team, and the best team mentally in the league over the next couple of months. If you do that then results will follow but I know it is a lot of work.

Message to those back home after attack in Belgium?

When you talk about that I get a bit cold. It's terrible. It could be in Brussels or anywhere, two years ago it was somewhere else. It's much more important than football and it's a pity we live in a world where these things happen. People need to take the most out of every day. We speak about one crazy person in Brussels but it could have been anywhere. It's impossible to avoid or stop these things. Let's hope we can create a world where there is less of this and everyone stays positive and looks on the bright side of life.