Only a few weeks after leading the team to the Pro League title in his first 18 months on the job, Clement left Genk for Brugge in 2019. Before moving to Monaco two years ago, he won three more championships in a row in his native country. Additionally, Croonen has cautioned Rangers to hold onto the 49-year-old for as long as possible, given that he has defied all odds to propel the Ibrox club back to the top of the Scottish standings.

“The longer Rangers can keep Phillipe, the better for them,” stated Croonen. He has demonstrated his ability to sustain performance over multiple seasons. His leaving us after the first title is the only thing I regret about assigning him to Genk. Despite our requests for him to stay, he chose to depart.

As Michael Beale’s replacement, Clement stunned supporters on both sides of the Glasgow divide by snapping what seemed to be an insurmountable Celtic lead in just four months. When he won the team’s first League Cup in twelve years in December, he also won the first piece of hardware of the season.

And if his team defeats Hearts at home on Saturday, they might widen the lead at the top of the table to five points. However, Croonen maintains that he is not in the slightest surprised.

He said, “Not at all. Looking at Philippe’s past, you can see that in his second season leading the team, he turned us into champions.

“He moved to Brugge and turned them into three-time champions. As a result, he is among the few head coaches in Belgian football history to have won four straight titles with two separate teams.

If I’m being completely honest, I think that we participated in the Champions League solely because Philippe was our head coach, at least somewhat. For Brugge, I can say the same thing. Without him, I don’t think they would have participated in three Champions League games.

His influence on the teams he coaches is therefore quite significant. It comes as no surprise to me that he has already achieved such success in Glasgow.

And Coonen believes that following a quiet 18 months at the millionaire’s playground that is Monte Carlo, Clement deliberately chose to immerse himself in Glasgow’s fertile milieu in order to reignite his own coaching career. “Definitely,” he answered. Given his intensity on the field, I think Philippe missed a lot of football in Monaco.

Although I haven’t been to Glasgow yet, I plan to go because I want to experience the complete Old Firm game atmosphere. I’m going to inform him of this by text! We don’t communicate every week or every month, but we’ve been in touch ever since my presidency. I’m grateful that I was able to collaborate with him.

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