Sport

Steven Naismith reveals Philippe Clement talks

Published

9 months ago

February 24, 2024

Steven Naismith says his chats with Rangers manager Philippe Clement are like nuggets of gold to a young manager. But the Hearts boss is confident he can repay the Belgian at Ibrox today by striking a major blow in his quest to land the Premiership silver.

Naismith couldn’t hide his admiration for his opposite number when he spoke ahead of his side’s trip along the M8. Clement is exactly the type of manager Rangers need to drive standards and results according to the former Light Blues striker, who won claimed three league titles in Govan under Walter Smith.

He’s already proved that by losing just one of his 19 league games in charge and overturning what was an eight point gap at one point to leapfrog Celtic into top spot. However, Naismith believes third-placed Hearts can make that two defeats in 20 and extend their own sensational 12-game unbeaten run.

He said: “We’ve come up against his Rangers side three times and he has been a good, older manager for someone like myself. He’s approachable, gives you the time and speaks to you. For any young manager that’s gold. There’s so much value in it.

“His teams show his character. That’s for us to deal with and to think about how we can hurt them. It will be tough, they are in form and the manager has definitely come in and put his marker on everything.

“You see that in their performances, how he deals with players, how honest he is. That’s the type of manager you need at a club like Rangers. That’s why the results have been so good.

“We know what we will face but for us it’s about continuing what we’ve done. How we focus on every game. That’s how we believe we will get a result.”

The Jambos suffered a heartbreaking 2-1 defeat on their last trip to Ibrox as they conceded a 90th minute James Tavernier penalty before the hammerblow of a 93rd minute winner for Clement’s side.

But since then they’ve won 13 and lost just two of their next 16 games and currently sit closer to the table topping Gers than fourth place Kilmarnock.

Naismith, who welcomes Kyosuke Tagawa back from injury, knows getting the first goal this afternoon will crank up the pressure in the Ibrox stands. He said: “We’ve got the same demand at home. Our crowd is demanding and if we are not winning by half time we know what the feeling can be. It’s the same there. We will reference it but ultimately that is not going to get us the win.

“The small margins is what killed us last time. That could be the same this time, we could play unbelievably well but one moment costs us.

“Will we win, draw, lose? Who knows but what we will do is go with a fight, desire and concentration of what we need to do. We’ve shown there’s a concentration with us now and that’s a mentality shift.”

Hearts defender Stephen Kingsley struck a sweet free kick in December’s 2-0 win at Celtic Park which kick started the sensational run which has seen Naismith’s side pick up 28 points from their last 30.

Adding a win at Ibrox would send a statement and set Hearts up brilliantly for Wednesday’s Edinburgh derby in Gorgie.

He said: “It would be huge. If you look at where we were at the beginning of the season to where we are now, we have come on leaps and bounds.