By Wayne Veysey

16th Nov, 2023 | 4:59pm

Revealed: Rangers stars transformed at Auchenhowie, Clement plans to blow Celtic away

Philippe Clement is pushing his Rangers stars extremely hard during the international break as he looks to transform their fitness and help them reach new physical levels at their Auchenhowie training headquarters, sources have told Football Insider.

The Ibrox boss is said to have implemented individually-tailored fitness programmes for the players who remain in Glasgow during the two-week break to get them fitter and sharper for the pre-Christmas programme.

Those players not on national team duty have also been afforded just two or a maximum of three days off depending on the intensity of their match schedule prior to the international break.

The Belgian is confident that the gap between Rangers at Celtic can be bridged if his squad return to club action fitter and stronger.

He identified fitness, or the lack of it among the first-team squad, as a key area to improve soon after his arrival at Ibrox.

The Gers remain unbeaten since Clement’s arrival and will have narrowed the gap on the Hoops to five points if they win their Scottish Premiership match in hand.

The club entered the international break with a convincing 2-0 win over Livingston at Almondvale with goals from Cyriel Dessers and a penalty from James Tavernier.

Clement has brought a welcome change in fortune to Ibrox after Michael Beale’s wretched opening to the new campaign as he paves the way to push Celtic all season.

He has also kept their Europa League dreams alive as they sit second in Group C just two points below Real Betis.

Rangers will travel to the Pittodrie Stadium after the break on Sunday 26 November to face Aberdeen, who were subjected to a 6-0 thrashing from Brendan Rodgers’ side last weekend.

In other news, Rangers hit by £8m blow as news confirmed