Phillipe Clement arrives at Rangers with the tangible success of three titles with Genk and Club Brugge in Belgium standing as testament to his qualities. It was this track record that attracted the Ibrox side but they are not the only big club to cast admiring glances towards a proven winner.
The first to snare Clement's services was Monaco, one of the most glamourous destinations in football. While the new Rangers coach arrived in the South of France midseason to chaos, he soon settled the squad and delivered the fabled new manager bounce. The club went from ninth to third - and Champions League football - during his time in the Cote d'Azur.
A second season saw things sour somewhat in the final few games with a sixth place finish and the sack but Clement bristles at the suggestion his spell in Ligue 1 didn't work.
"The year and a half at Monaco, now you’re talking like it was a failure. The first six months, we got the most points in Ligue 1 together with Paris St Germain. I think we went from position eight to position three and we were ten seconds away from second place.
‘The second season, we were playing for second place seven games before the end. And then we lost a lot of points because in all the club there was a bad dynamic. After 50 games there as a manager I had the most average points of the last 21 or 22 years for a manager in Monaco. So, yes, at the end, the six last games killed a lot. But there were also a lot of other games and other periods. "
The stats back up Clement's position. Monaco were in the top five positions for almost the whole of the season until a terrible run of form in their final games saw them pick up only one win from their last seven, dropping them out of contention.
Asked if he feels this showed the club's failure to look at the bigger picture and the fickle nature of top level football, he replied: "In some clubs, yes. But in clubs where they never find stability.
"If you decide everything, when there were very good things before… you decide about five or six games on whether that’s the story or not. And seven games before, you were really happy with the story because you wanted to give a new contract for three, four years… you will never create stability.
"All the good clubs who have been for a long time structurally at the top never made decisions like that. Because you will always have some part of a season when there’s a difficult period. And you need to see through those things also, to see what is going on and why. That didn’t happen."
While Clement didn't receive the kind of backing he was looking for in France, he's confident it will come in Scotland. He met with the CEO James Bisgrove and chairman John Bennett when discussing the move, but crucially also sounded out some of the club's big investors. After successfully navigating what sounds like an exhausting appointment process, Clement was sure he would be backed to the hilt.
"I’m convinced of that," he said. "Also, I’m convinced if they see the story of what’s happening every day in the club, to see the training and what’s going on behind the scenes. That’s also a very important part in football. It’s not only the game or that short period, but what is the reason behind those things. You can have injuries because of bad luck and players being kicked. And you can have injuries because you don’t work in the right way. There are several parameters and out of those you have to take the right decision."
While Clement's primary challenge will be improving domestic form and overcoming Celtic, Rangers also have the Europa League to think about. It's a competition the manager knows well from his previous clubs while he also has memories of good results where Rangers ultimately want to get to in the Champions League.
To play at that level, the Ibrox club will have to punch above their weight but Clement insists that with everyone pulling together it's a dream that can be achieved.
He said: "Of course that’s a goal. By working harder, doing more, doing better, you can win against teams who have more potential. Of course I want that. Because I don’t care who we play against, I believe in my club and I believe in my players.
"We went with Brugge to Madrid and we played high-pressing there. They were surprised about that. We got a good result. It could have been better if we didn’t take a red card. We won points against Paris St Germain, we won in Leipzig. We won points against Lazio – against teams with bigger budgets.
"But you need ambitious staff, ambitious players. That’s what we want to create now in Rangers, to get moments like that. Because those are the things these fans want and really need. I know. And I want to give that to them."
Clement also has a disadvantage at home where rivals Celtic sit seven points clear in the league and have significantly deeper pockets for new recruits. The Belgian points out that it's not what you spend, but how you spend it that counts. It's a simple message that hits home after a second consecutive summer where signings have misfired so dramatically.
"It’s always an advantage if you can spend more. No, it’s not about spending more, but whether you can look in a bigger pool for talent. The bigger the budget you have, the bigger the pool is. If you have less money and the pool is smaller, you need to look deeper into the water to find the good fish.
"That’s what we need to do. That’s what we have been talking about, about recruitment and how to do it – and to be aligned. It’s going to be one of the major things, of course, but it’s also about all the work done with the players to make them technically, tactically, physically and mentally stronger than they are today. If you can do those things – and your recruitment is to the point and on top – then you can create a really fantastic story with the potential that’s here."
