Rangers' Philippe Clement takes on Scottish football's political peculiarities: B teams, 'weird' Aberdeen case and request to journalists

Philippe Clement was a defensive midfielder in his playing days, but he showed the predatory instincts of a striker to seize upon the opportunity to push for the installation of B teams into the second tier of Scottish football.

The Belgian knows his demands will court controversy. It is a thorny topic in Scottish football, with the vote to put such outfits from Celtic, Hearts and Rangers into the Lowland League in the past splitting those involved in the game down the middle. Imagine the furore if it was to be the Championship? But for Clement, the benefits are huge.

He has witnessed first-hand in his homeland how it can improve players and bridge the gap between youth and first-team football. And in the wake of this week's SFA report that revealed that Scotland “lags significantly behind comparable nations in terms of young player minutes at every level of the game”, the Rangers boss timed his pitch well.

Rangers manager Philippe Clement wants chances for his young players to be enhanced. | SNS Group

“I think what this country misses is that the B teams can play in the second league," said Clement. "That would help a lot. And you see countries where a lot of young players get chances and can grow, but also have a step in between. Like Belgium, like Holland, where the B teams of several clubs are playing in the second league or in the third league. And because of that, you also get more players who at the age of 20, 21, 22 are ready to play in the first league.”

Clement realises there is opposition to the concept, but added: “I’m sure it will be a very good thing for Scottish football to do that – and for all the teams. People sometimes think it’s a good thing for Celtic, Rangers and Hearts and maybe some other teams, but not for the rest. But it’s not the case, because the players who don’t succeed here, they have experience in the second league. And then to go to Ross County for example. So everybody benefits from that.

"How is the evolution of a player if you put them on loan or you put them in a team where you don't have any control? It's just like throwing them in the swimming pool without learning to swim. So we need to make these steps smaller, so it needs to be more controlled. So I hope in the future maybe everybody can join together and follow that idea. It's not my idea, it happens in several countries. And they have success also with much younger players. So I think it's always good to look at where things are going well and to learn out of that."

Clement does not believe a proper pathway exists for his current batch of youngsters. He namechecked Hamza Igamane, Clinton Nsiala, Zak Lovelace, Cole Mackinnon and Robbie Fraser as players who would benefit right now from competitive B-team football. "For all of them, it's a big step from the academy," he said. "Then to play at Rangers. Where you have to win every game. Where you play in Europe, where you play against Celtic. Against the best players in the league. The step is too big to make it directly. And if you put them on loan, you don't have any control of the story. We had examples with Alex Lowry last season. I think for everybody it's better."

Club Brugge made a lot of money from selling Charles De Ketelaere. | Getty Images

Then a smile broke out on Clement's face. "And I hope that you guys maybe dig into that also," he told the assembled media. "I know you like to dig into things sometimes. Dig into that also. How it's working in Holland and Belgium and to speak with people there. I've seen it in Bruges also now. Before we almost didn't have any players out of the academy. That was also my task when I started there. I see now several players in the last couple of years making that step. We sold Charles De Ketelaere for more than £30 million to Milan. Now Maxim de Cuyper, there are bids for £20-25 million for him.

"Before it was not the case because the step was too big to go from academy to a team who has to win every day. People don't understand how big a difference that is with academy football. The demands and levels are so much higher. But these guys needed that step in between. And there are several others who play now in the first league in Belgium in the smaller clubs who do really well there. So everybody will win with that."

There was one final thing on Clement's mind: development fees for out-of-contract youngsters involved in cross-border transfers. Rangers are poised to go to a tribunal with Aberdeen over Connor Barron's move to Ibrox. The Belgian finds it baffling that it would cost a team in England less to sign a player in Barron's situation and wants to see more progressive thinking in Scotland.

"I think for Scottish football it's also important to have less conservative solutions because you see the amount of young players or Scottish players playing in the league only goes down," added Clement. "So it's bad for the league. It's bad also for Scottish football, for the national team. And in that way I want to add one more.

Zak Lovelace and Alex Lowry are two Rangers youngsters with limited avenues for playing senior football. | SNS Group

"For me it was also a crazy situation to know because I didn't know when we were interested in Connor Barron that it's more expensive to keep a Scottish player in Scotland than that a Scottish player goes to wherever else in the world. Even to the Premier League, where they have all the money in the world.

"So it's more expensive to keep him in Scotland. So that's for me a rule to put players out of Scotland. I don't think it's logical in Scotland to make rules like that. You need to make rules to keep players here. That it's beneficial for the clubs that the players stay in the league here. So that was also for me something really weird."

It’s not the first or the last time something in Scottish football has been called “weird”. Now almost a year into his Ibrox tenure, Clement is discovering for himself the game’s political peculiarities.