Philippe Clement’s old stomping ground Monaco finished second at the weekend in Ligue 1 as the Rangers manager was struggling v Celtic, confirming the French giants as automatic Champions League entrants.
We wanted to look at his time with Monaco and see what clues we can pick up, particularly with regards the summer transfer window, given Clement was fired for letting second place slip through his fingers with 7 matches to go.
He collapsed, just as he has at Rangers at about the same point.
But were there any circumstances or suchlike?
The main difference between the French side this season and what he had to work with was Clement got £35M to spend on Takumi Minamino, Breel Embolo and Mohamed Camara.
This season’s manager Adi Hütter has had almost three times that in £90M over 7 players. Clement got 5, and two of them were loans. Just one of Hütter’s was.
So there is no denying Monaco supported their Austrian manager better than they did Clement, and at Ligue 1 level £35M in a summer when you’re trying to finish second is very, very modest.
At Rangers that number would be amazing, at Monaco it’s far too low.
He sustained 11 domestic losses (Hutter 7) and 8 draws (Hutter 7) with a massive collapse over the last 7 matches earning him just 4 points.
So what do we make of this?
At Brugge he was hugely supported – he spent about £30M in his final summer window and won the title again with it.
That is what he will get at Rangers, around £25M and we’d imagine some Bosmans and loans.
Had he been given the £90M or so his successor at Monaco got, who knows how the season would have gone, but the £35M he got for a Ligue 1 giant compared with only £5M less at Brugge isn’t the leap up it should have been. It would be tough with that amount.
Hutter got much, much more, and did more with it.
Mind you, would Hutter select Sterling at RW?