SIMPLY THE ZEST

He may have turned 50 but Clément insists he's still at the Klopp of his game and won't burn out like his brithday cake candles

- ANDY NEWPORT

PHILIPPE CLEMENT insists life is just beginning at Ibrox now he's turned 50.

The Rangers boss has just blown out the candles on his cake after making it to the halfcentury mark

But the big Belgian has no fears he's about to suffer the kind of burn-out syndrome that has forced Jurgen Klopp to announce he will be stepping down from his Liverpool role this summer.

Nine years at Anfield has taken a toll on the Kop gaffer, with the Champions Leaguewinning German confessing dwindling energy levels are behind his shock decision to quit his Reds role.

Clement, on the other hand, is only a mere five-and-a-half months into his Gers project.

And he can see himself standing on the Ibrox touchline for years to come.

"How old is Jurgen?" asked the Rangers boss. "He started earlier than me. I don't have the feeling at this moment that it will be too much.

"But I have seen it in the past, I saw it with former Club Brugge boss Michell Preud'homme. I was his assistant for four years and in the last year it was too much.

"He quit after that and then became technical director for two more years and then stopped.

"So I understand that maybe in one moment it is too much, it's an individual thing.

"I am not thinking about that at the moment. You have people in their 70s still doing it."

The Rangers boss may have shed the black hair he sported during his playing days, while the odd wrinkle spread round his eyes as he shared a joke with the Scottish press pack ahead of today's clash with Hibs.

But he still feels blessed to have all the zest he enjoyed when he was just starting out his coaching career with Brugge a decade ago.