My Rangers gladiators can roar in the Celtic colosseum
Clement backs his battling Blues to stand tall in the Parkhead inferno
ON the first blast of Willie Collum’s whistle, Celtic and their support will look to unleash hell.
And Philippe Clement wishes he was one of the combatants marching out to face the raging fury of the Parkhead colosseum.
The Rangers boss reckons today’s Old Firm battle is the closest you’ll get these days to a gladiator contest. It will certainly have all the hallmarks, a baying mob and a fight to the death.
But this time it’s Rangers’ title hopes in the gravest danger, with realistically only a victory good enough to keep their dreams of Premiership silver alive.
Clement still yearns for the day when he was taking to the pitch but today he’ll have to settle for a spot on the sidelines.
Whether his team are quite so enthusiastic about the battle ahead remains to be seen.
And as his Rangers side step out and attempt to slay Brendan Rodgers’ table-toppers, a feat they’ve not managed so far this season, Clement said: “Yes they need to grab that moment.
“We need to grab that moment together and put all our energy in that.
“That’s the best thing about sport, about competition. I think football is a little bit like the gladiators of the modern age.
“In the old times you had the gladiators in a stadium full of people shouting and booing and doing this with their thumb up or their thumb down.
“I think we are now in that situation. The good thing is, people don’t kill us. We’re not dead afterwards. Maybe verbally yes, but not in real life.
“It’s a positive that we will always have another go in the stadium.
“But that’s how society works now and players need to be ready for that. It’s also an exciting thing like that because the more passion people have for the things, the more support you have, so it works in both ways.
“They need to grab this moment to be really good gladiators tomorrow in the colosseum.
“Of course you enjoy it. I am really lucky that I can do the job closest to being the player that I was before.
“Being a player will always be the best period in my life whatever job I do. That is the most exciting thing and the thing you have most control over in your own destiny.
“You need to enjoy it and embrace it. That is why it is also important to have players in the building who embrace that because these moments can let you grow above yourself.
“That is the difference between some players and others and it is a major thing in football.”
Clement seems to relish the pressure and the intensity of Old Firm week but there is a growing belief among the Ibrox support that too many of their team shrink when the stakes are highest.
Clement said: “This keeps on coming back. But already this season they have shown a lot of moments when they did show it.
“I heard it before the League Cup Final but they took the League Cup.
“I heard it after Ross County and Dundee before the Hearts semi-final, where Hearts was in the best period of the season, and they showed it in that moment.
“They showed it in Europe to come first in the group in that last game.
“And there were several other moments also where we were
behind and they came back in the last minutes of the game.
“They kept on fighting. So in that way it’s not fair.
“But I know what people want here and that is more trophies and titles and then they can build more of a reputation which is fresh.
“This is is the start with this group and it will be about building further on that next season with a part of this group and with new players coming in and with players departing and continuing to let the story grow.
“In this period they chipped back four points even though Celtic took a lot of points over the last couple of months.
“It is not black and white and I think they have shown in a lot of moments that they can do it.”
For the likes of John Lundstram, Borna Barisic and a few others heading for the exit this summer, today will be a last chance to rewrite the negative narratives that sum up their contribution to the Ibrox cause.
Clement added: “For sure, and they know. They give everything to go outside of this club through the big gate.
“And others are also hungry for more. For the moment I see a lot of hunger and desire in this dressing room and I don’t need to push in that way.
“Sometimes one individual is disappointed about something, that is normal in the job. But I feel a lot of hunger and desire and will in this dressing room.”
Gers will certainly have to start with more determination than they’ve shown in their last few tussles with Celtic, having shipped the first goal in ten of the last 11 derbies.
Clement smiled as he was informed of that grim fact yesterday: “That’s a good stat you give me. It is good that we do it in another way tomorrow.
“I am convinced we have the quality and capability to start better. If you can score in the second half three goals like we did in the last game, why can you not score in the first half? So the qualities are there.”
We need to grab that moment together and put all our energy into it
PHILIPPE CLEMENT ISSUES A RALLYING CRY