New Rangers boss Philippe Clement showed his hardline approach by ensuring his Brugge striker Mbaye Diagne never kicked a ball again for the club after he took and missed a penalty in the Champions League without permission.
And the former Juventus and West Brom striker later retaliated by photoshopping his picture onto Clement’s head in Brugge’s subsequent title celebrations.
Clement brought the Senegal international to Brugge four years ago on loan from Galatasaray and sent him on as a sub when 1-0 down in a crucial Champions League match against PSG.
Diagne won his club a penalty but then snatched the ball from the designated penalty taker Hans Vanaken as he was determined to score that day for his mother.
His awful attempt was saved by keeper Keylor Navas and Clement went berserk in the dressing room after the game.
Diagne never kicked another ball again for Brugge and was so enraged with Clement he superimposed a picture of himself on top of Clement’s head when Brugge celebrated winning the Belgian title later that season and posted it online.
The new Ibrox boss said at the time: “He’ll not appear in my team for our next league match and I will decide in the coming weeks or months for a possible return to the team. There’ll also be a very heavy financial penalty.
“It was a dumb mistake. A mistake that had consequences for the result and we are all very angry about it
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“This sort of incident leads to emotions and there was a confrontation in the changing room after, but it was verbal and not physical. Diagne realised he made a mistake and did not argue back.
“We have had disciplinary incidents at this club in the past and players have been given a second chance. It is now up to Diagne to show that he accepts and understands the values of our club.
“He can still have a future with us although it depends on what he shows in the coming weeks.”
And Diagne, who is now with Saudi Arabian club Al-Qadsiah, later revealed how he was completely frozen out by Clement because of that incident.
He said: “I’d previously scored four goals in 178 minutes despite only starting once.
“During that PSG game I was a sub, then Clement put me on and said to me, ‘this is what we signed you for, to save us in the Champions League, now go out there and do it.’
“I shouldn’t have taken the penalty. But I was so fired up to help the team when I went on that I thought I had to take it to get the goal I had been asked to get. It was just the adrenaline and the determination to help. I wanted to score for my mother.
“Clement said he fined me, but he didn’t. Instead, he just gave me the cold shoulder.
“I apologised to the players and the manager but I was banished. I came in and trained my hardest every day, but was never called for the matchday squads again. He was picking players ahead of me whom I respected but who, honestly, weren’t at the same level as me.
“After a while, I went to the manager and asked what was going on and he just said: ‘I make the decisions, I’m the boss.’ After that he just ignored me.
“For my last three months at Brugge, he didn’t say a word to me, not so much as a ‘hello’.
“I think he never wanted me in the first place. It was other people at the club who had persuaded me to go there. I think he took advantage of my penalty miss to make a point.”
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