Rangers manager Philippe Clement may have let slip the true reason for Rangers’ injury crisis, and it’s a staggering one if so.
The Belgian boss, speaking pre-Dundee (assuming the match goes ahead), was discussing Rangers’ appalling injury record of recent years, which he effectively labelled ‘unprecedented’ in his whole football career, when he made a massive reveal about something which could well be at the heart of the whole problem.
The cryo chamber at Auchenhowie.
Or, to be exact, players failing miserably to use it.
Installed years ago as part of Rangers’ multimillion-pound cutting edge facility, the chamber is designed to speed up healing and help injuries settle much quicker, but Clement was absolutely aghast to hear it’s been mostly neglected for years.
He said:
“For example, we have a cryo chamber here that was not heavily used before. We talked about that. It helps players who have inflammations, they disappear faster so they have less risk of injury. It helps in recovery. I used it myself when I was a player and I know the effect. It was very clear that it helps. After I said it once, everybody is going now after every game. Those are the things we need to improve as a group all together. We need to educate the players what it is to be a top professional.”
Is this the single reason for the injury blight to smite the club for so long? Well, it certainly hasn’t helped, that’s for sure.
To have the top-grade sports science and medical technology at your fingertips at massive cost, and then ignore it… is… literally criminal.
This goes back years – Gerrard, Gio, Beale – all of these managers failed pathetically to enforce the use of this feature, and while we can’t squarely point the finger at this as the overriding reason for our issues, well, it would have really aided a significant amount wouldn’t it?
Thankfully, Rangers really do have a pro in the dugout – an experienced man of great intelligence who knows football, players, and more than a spot of the science.
If we’d appointed Kevin Muscat they’d probably be having a shrimp on the barbie in the canteen rather than spending time in the cryo.
Thank heavens for Clement.