Rangers manager Philippe Clement has described Rangers’ early Scottish Premiership match against Livingston as “strange.”
The Belgian coach promptly returned to Scottish Premiership responsibilities after the club overcame Sparta Prague in the Europa League.
Rangers are now one win away from qualifying for the Europa League Group C, with the club scheduled to face Aris Limassol at Ibrox on matchday five.
However, with Rangers scheduled to play Livingston at 12pm after finishing at 10pm on Thursday, Philippe Clement has declared that the main focus would be on league duties as he challenges his players to “adapt” to the inconvenient kick off time.
Those early kick-off away days in Scottish football have been a source of frustration for countless managers, and the Belgian will now have to work around the SFA’s scheduling.
“First and foremost, the league,” Clement explained. “It’s already Sunday at 12 o’clock; it’s a little strange that it’s 12 o’clock, but we’ll adjust.”
“And then it’s Europe again; there are two more games, so we have to take it game by game.”
“Maybe we can decide something maybe already next game but that’s still a long way to go and the team needs to continue doing what they’re doing every day in the training and every game in the league and then focus on Europe afterwards.”
Rangers manager Philippe Clement praised the club’s supporters following the Europa League victory over Sparta Prague.
The Ibrox crowd was ecstatic after the win over the Czechs, and the Belgian manager thinks the fans are living up to his expectations.
“It was amazing and exactly what I expected,” Clement added. “My expectations for the stadium, the fans, and the atmosphere are extremely high.”
“That was also one of the reasons I came here because I am a football fan, so I love all of this tradition, all of this atmosphere, all of this passion.”
“Because I’m also a passionate guy about football, so I enjoyed it.”
Rangers travel to Livingston in the Scottish Premiership before a two-week international break, following which Philippe Clement’s side faces a gruelling 12-game stretch.
