Cyriel Dessers digs out Rangers stat that 'says a lot' about his stunning form under Philippe Clement

Rejuvenated Rangers striker Cyriel Dessers insists it’s not the common tongue he shares with his boss that has helped get him back on talking terms with the Ibrox support.

Rather, he reckons its Clement’s ability to communicate clearly in the dressing room that has ensured the Light Blues have found their voice in the Premiership shouting match. It’s just four months since relations between the Light Blues and their fan base looked to have reached breaking point as they were booed off after a dismal defeat to Aberdeen.

It was a result that ended Michael Beale’s reign and looked to have silenced chat of a title tilt too. As the poster boy for Beale’s summer rebuild, Dessers ended up bearing the worst of the verbal lashings from the stands. The Belgian-born, Dutch-speaking Nigeria international hardly needed an interpreter to explain what the punters were saying as they repeatedly jeered him during a torrid start to life in Glasgow.

Things couldn’t be much different these days, though, with the melody to their “Nice one Cyriel” chant now a regular sound round Ibrox. Fair play to the former Feyenoord ace, he has firmly thrust all those words of abuse back down his critics’ throats, mounting a remarkable return to form with 13 goals in 24 games under fellow Flemish speaker Clement. And Dessers believes those stats speak volumes about the effect the new boss has had on Gers as a whole.

He said: “I know the manager from Belgium - I played a couple of times against him when he was the manager at Club Brugge. We had a title battle when I was at Genk and we ended up second. It was clear in Belgium that he was an amazing manager, he won three titles back-to-back.

“He knows what’s needed at this stage of the season and hopefully he