Philippe Clement believes qualifying for the group stage proper of the Champions League will help Rangers’ story “go faster” as he looks to overhaul the Glasgow giants.
The Belgian manager is overseeing a major revamp of his squad as they look to challenge arch-rivals Celtic, whose latest Scottish Premiership title last season guaranteed them a place among Europe’s elite and the financial benefits that come with being in the continent’s leading club football competition.
Rangers, by contrast, still have a way to go with the Light Blues heading into Tuesday’s third qualifying tie with Dynamo Kyiv at Hampden Park all square at 1-1 following a draw in last week’s first leg in Poland. Either RB Salzburg or FC Twente will await the winners in the play-off.
The Rangers boss is well aware of the problems the Ibrox club endured following a financial collapse in 2012, when they entered administration and were demoted to the bottom tier of Scottish football before re-emerging as a domestic force.
“I think it (qualification) can make things happen faster,” Clement told a pre-match press conference on Monday.
“Going to the Champions League is not budgeted and that is the best way because some teams have done that in the past and they had really big financial problems out of that. We can’t do that, clearly.
“Of course if you can go to the Champions League it will give you another budget, although it is only in the last hours of the transfer market at the moment. But it will be an important thing, for the future windows at the club.”
The 50-year-old added: “As a player, as a manager, it is about competing with the best. That is why I always like to be in the Champions League, it is the nicest place to be.
“It is also the most challenging place for players also because they can compete against the best and the world spotlight is on them. So that is the main thing.
“As a club you need to look at both. You need to look at the exposure and the tradition but the finance is really important in football and I think this club knows this really well after what happened 12 years ago.
“The club is really conscious. I know that and together we want to create a really good story, a strong story for the future but it is not a story you can write in three or four weeks, so we are working on that.
“The Champions League can make the story go faster.”
