Philippe Clement sees himself as Rangers father figure and reveals Gordon Strachan babysitting duties at Coventry

Philippe Clement counts himself lucky to have once had Gordon Strachan both as a boss and a babysitter.

Now the Belgian hopes his new Rangers squad will grow to feel just as warmly about him as he sets out to become an Ibrox father-figure. A late starter to the professional game, Clement was 24 before he made his first move overseas, joining a Coventry side with a strong Scottish contingent in 1998. Strachan was the leader of the Cov clan and the future Celtic and Scotland gaffer quickly impressed Clement as he and his wife Lesley went out of their way to make his own family feel welcome.

That even extended to watching Clement’s kids while he and his missus snuck off for a couple hours’ peace at the cinema. It was a lesson in leadership that has stuck with the new Ibrox manager ever since - and one he plans to make use of as he starts to build relations with his new blues brothers.

He said: “The experience with Gordon as my manager was good. He was really nice with us. His wife also. My son at the moment was really small, around five years old.

“His wife really liked him, so at times the gaffer would say, ‘If you want to go out with your wife, go to the movies, your boy can stay with us’. So we did it a few times. He was our babysitter!

“They were really nice people. That support for my family was really important.

“As a manager, I want to be a father for all of my players too. I want to give them advice, to help and get the best out of them.

“With a father it’s like that, I do the same thing with my kids. When they do well, they get rewarded. When they don’t, sometimes they get stick!

“It’s part of parenthood and it’s the same with players. So it’s about building a story that’s really strong, but also with the staff