Philippe Clement won't comment on Ryan Kent links and urges fans to 'follow pyro rules'

Philippe Clement has refused to be drawn on rumours linking Rangers with a move for Ryan Kent as he revealed his attempts to sign the winger at a previous club.

The manager has also urged fans to “be smart and follow the rules” on pyrotechnics after the club was fined twice by UEFA over displays in their Europa League games against Malmo and Lyon with the chairman warning of greater penalties if it continues.

Former Rangers player Kent, who was part of the club’s title winning side in 20/21 before helping them reach the Europa League final the following year, has recently become a free agent after being released by Fenerbahce.

That has led to rumours that the club could make a move to bring him back to Glasgow in January.

And while Clement revealed he tried to sign the 27-year-old while in charge of Club Brugge, he refused to be drawn on speculation.

He said: “I have said a lot of times that I don’t go into rumours, because then it would never stop and it’s already busy with all the press conferences so I am not going to go into that.

“Of course I know the player, and I have known him for a long time because when he signed for Rangers I was in talks with him to try and get him to Brugges, but he had a better deal offered by Rangers so he chose to come here.

“So I have known him for a long time but I am not going to get into rumours about signing him here or not.”

Rangers were fined around £11,500 for the release of flares during the 4-1 home defeat to the French side earlier this month, following a bill of £15,900 for a similar incident in the 2-0 away win in Sweden.

In a statement released earlier this week John Gilligan told the “small minority” of Rangers fans that pyrotechnics “must stop” and ahead of the Premiership game against Kilmarnock on Sunday, Clement backed him up.

Speaking to the media on Friday, the Belgian said: “Everything that the club gets fines for, it’s a bad thing for the club, for everybody working in the club and for the fans also.

“So it lowers the budget for other things, but for the fans it’s also really important.

“They need to be smart and follow the rules that are made by UEFA, by the Scottish Football League.

“So they need to follow that, like you need to follow also the rules when you’re outside in the city and you need to follow the rules of the police. That’s life.”

Asked if there was concern in the club that further transgressions could result in tougher punishments such as a partial stadium closure, the Belgian said: “I don’t want to think about that because I know the passion of our fans.

“I know they want to give their life for this club.

“So I’m also confident when the right people say the right things, like John did, that they understand that it’s not a good thing for the club, so that they will not do it. So I believe in them.”

Clement was appointed Rangers boss on October 15 last year and soon won the League Cup before his side reached the last-16 of the Europa League and climbed to the top of the league before being overtaken by eventual champions Celtic, who also beat them in the Scottish Cup final.

Amid ongoing boardroom changes this season and with a much-changed squad, Clement’s side were knocked out of the Champions League qualifiers and are in the middle of a Europa League campaign, while currently trailing Celtic and Aberdeen by five points at the top of the table.

He said: “It’s difficult to discuss all of what happened in one year. That it’s good that we won a trophy along the way, I wanted more.

“We were close on more, but not good enough. We had to do – and it’s about we, it’s never about I – we needed to do a big rebuild in the club in every sense, on the pitch, off the pitch, so many things happened.

“So I’m putting every energy into that, day and night, to get this club back where it belongs, for me.

“So the future is much more important than the past, in that way. Yes, there are steps made, but we still have to make several steps to get where we want to be.

“That’s with staff, that’s with players, that’s with the board, that’s with the investors, that’s with everybody together, making things better.

“So I’ve seen steps made, I’ve seen also that we lost things along the way when people left.

“So now you need to rebuild again, with players, with people from outside of the staff. So in that way, it’s about working hard to improve.”