Philippe Clement wants Rangers to have long-term view in their squad building

Philippe Clement stressed the importance of building for the long term as Rangers prepare to host Queen’s Park in the Scottish Gas Scottish Cup fifth round at Ibrox.

The Light Blues manager gathered his squad together for a pep-talk on the pitch at Hampden Park on May 24 last year after narrowly losing the final 1-0 to a last-gasp Celtic goal.

However, ahead of facing the Championship side at Ibrox on Sunday, the Gers boss noted that a sizeable chunk of last year’s group have moved on which lessened the possibility of using that final defeat as motivation for this season.

The Belgian boss said: “A lot of guys in the circle were not in the club a few weeks later. So it’s difficult to use that as fuel for a new group of players.

“That’s what we need to get in this club for the future — more consistency in your squad that you can build something, and then build further on. You cannot start new every time.

“I’ll make a comparison with a house. You start from the foundations, like we had to do this season.

“It’s not a good way to build a house if you have built two storeys, then have to wipe it off and start from the foundation again.

“Those things are really important.

“I explained at the beginning of the season, you need to create with players who experience things together.

“You need to get these connections together, the right timings together, the communication together, verbal, non-verbal, to understand each other and to understand everybody.

“Every individual player has to know what his job is individually, but collectively as well if we are to move together.

“You need a core and you need stability. You need consistency to build from season to season.

“Some clubs have done that really well and they get the benefits. It’s a major part of football.

“Every team where I was successful in the past, it was always when we were two or three years together as a group of players — not with all 11, but at least with seven or eight.

“It’s an important part of the business that cannot be underestimated.”

Clement was on the wrong end of a cup shock with Monaco in 2023, losing on penalties in the Coupe de France to Ligue 2 Rodez after letting slip a two-goal lead and he recalled the reasons why.

He said: “I put too many young guys in to give them a chance on that day and the senior guys didn’t perform as they should have done to help the young guys.

“On that day the other team was 100 per cent efficient and had the day of their lives.

“So, cup competitions are always something dangerous. You need to balance things really well.

“It happened one time like that. I had a lot of cup games in a different way in Monaco and with other teams, but it’s something that happens every season in every league.

“We are very ambitious for this game on Sunday, and we respect Queen’s Park.

“We will have the same preparation that we had against Manchester United or Tottenham (in the Europa League).

“I read that they’re not going to park the bus and they’re going to go full into the fight to get results.

“So that’s what I expect, but it can also be the bus so we will see.

“It’s a team that can do good offensive actions. They have also really interesting set-pieces that they clearly work on a lot.

“They’re going to count on the counter-attacks and the set-pieces in this game. We need to be very focused on that.”