Philippe Clement shakes up Rangers backroom staff with experienced Dutch coach boasting impressive CV

Philippe Clement looks set to bolster his Rangers backroom staff ahead of the new season with the addition of Andries Ulderink as an assistant manager.

The well-respected Dutchman will join forces with current Ibrox No.2 Stephan Van Der Heyden, Brian Gilmour and first-team coach Alex Rae, who is also part of Clement’s set-up but finds himself out of contract this summer.

Ulderink most recently served as assistant boss to Mark van Bommel at Belgian outfit Royal Antwerp for the last two years. It is understood he joined the Rangers coaching staff for the first time on Monday morning as members of the first-team squad returned for pre-season training.

Having worked alongside legendary Dutch and Manchester United defender Jaap Stam during a spell in England with Reading in 2016, Ulderink moved to Ajax Cape Town in South Africa two years later before heading back to his homeland after accepting a role at FC Twente.

The 54-year-old boasts almost 30 years of coaching experience and was believed to be ‘looking for a new challenge’. To date, Clement has relied on coaches who have a strong connection and know the demands of the club, but the Belgian boss has now added a more familiar name to him amid heightened pressure to sustain a Premiership title challenge next season after faltering late in the day last term.

Ulderink - whose playing career never advanced beyond amateur football - was a contender to land the NAC Breda management post towards the end of last season and will provide a fresh outlook on the training field at Auchenhowie before the 2024/25 campaign gets underway. He has previously held various other coaching, management and scouting roles at youth and senior level.

Having filled a number of different positions at Eredivisie giants Ajax and Jong Ajax (B-team), Ulderink crossed paths with Stam for the first time. Reflecting on their time together at Reading, Stam said of Ulderink: “I spoke to him about his philosophy, what he wanted to do and it clicked. He has got a lot of experience in coaching, managing, making schedules and everything. That was what I needed; you do not always need to be a professional player to do well in a certain league.”