Philippe Clement: Rangers appoint former Monaco head coach as manager

Rangers have appointed former Monaco and Club Brugge head coach Philippe Clement as their new manager on a three-and-a-half-year contract.

The 49-year-old former Belgium defender succeeds Michael Beale, who was sacked earlier this month.

Clement was sacked himself by Monaco in June after 18 months in charge when his side finished sixth in Ligue 1.

Rangers chairman John Bennett said the Belgian was “the outstanding candidate across all the key criteria”.

He pointed out that the “carefully planned and comprehensive recruitment process” had been carried out by a team led by chief executive James Bisgrove, members of the board and former Rangers player and manager Graeme Souness during 10 days over which they interviewed “several high-calibre candidates”.

The Scottish Premiership club had reportedly reduced their shortlist to two – Clement and Yokohama F Marinos head coach Kevin Muscat, the former Rangers defender.

Bennett pointed to Clement’s “track record of winning titles” – lifting his domestic league trophy three seasons in a row – as the Belgian was named Rangers’ 19th manager.

Clement told Rangers’ website he is “hugely excited by this chance to achieve success at one of Europe’s most iconic clubs”.

Rangers say the “new management team” will meet the playing squad for the first time on Monday as they prepare for the visit of Hibernian on Saturday, when will begin his task of overhauling Celtic’s seven-point lead.

Clement got his first taste of management in two spells as caretaker at Brugge, where he had also been a player for 10 years.

He would become a manager in his own right with Beveren and Genk, who he led to the league title, before repeating the success in the next two seasons back at Brugge.

Clement succeeded Niko Kovac as Monaco boss in January 2021, improving their league placing from sixth to third.

However, they failed to reach the Champions League group stage after losing to PSV Eindhoven and were beaten by Bayer Leverkusen in the Europa League knock-out stage after finishing runners-up in their group behind Ferencvaros.

Monaco dismissed Clement when a poor run at the end of the league season meant they just missed out on qualifying for European football this term.

As a player, Clement also played for Beerschot, Genk and Coventry City as well as 38 times for his country.