Philippe Clement named favourite for top job as Rangers exit rumour mill goes into overdrive

The 50-year-old's position at Ibrox has come under scrutiny following a poor start to the Scottish Premiership season which has left his side nine points behind both Celtic and Aberdeen at the top of the table. Clement, however, remains highly-respected in his homeland following title-winning spells in charge of both Genk and Club Brugge as well as a distinguished playing career that saw him earn 38 caps for the Belgian national team.

And he is now being tipped as the leading candidate to take over from current Belgium head coach Domenico Tedesco, who is also under serious pressure following the 1-0 defeat to Israel at the weekend which left his side with a record of just one out of six in the Nations League on the back of an uninspiring Euro 2024.

Speculation in the Belgian media has ramped up following the appointment of Clement's former chief executive and mentor, Vincent Mannaert, as the new sporting director of the Belgian FA. Mannaert spent 13 years at Club Brugge and appointed Clement as manager in 2019. According to reports, Clement is top of a five-man shortlist which also includes Thierry Henry, Hein Vanhaezebrouck, Sergio Conceicao and Herve Renard.

Mannaert has previously revealed his admiration for the Rangers manager, who has also had some success at Ibrox, winning the League Cup last season and reaching the Europa League knock-out stages. Speaking in April, Mannaert said: "Philippe and I have known each other for a very long time and since we were both playing, he was at the beginning of a fantastic career and me at the beginning of a less bright career.

"We had great results in the Champions League at Club Brugge and had a draw with PSG - with Messi, with Neymar, with Mbappe - and we had a draw in the Bernabeu against Real Madrid. And we had great celebrations when we won the title.

"He is a very hard-working person, he believes in hard work and preparation. As a player, he was also a leader, he was a captain for many years at Brugge. You see that leadership coming back as a coach, he leads a group.

"He prepares himself very well. He is analytically very strong, he is able to get out the angle of the opponent and he combines that with emotional leadership."

Clement took charge of Rangers in October 2023 and signed a new contract extension until 2028 in the summer. Despite his recent troubles, he insisted last month that he remains committed to his role at Ibrox when addressing reports linking him with the vacancy at Anderlecht.

‘It’s really clear, I engaged myself long-term for Rangers last month, so whoever comes, whatever team comes, I’m not going to go away," he said.