Philippe Clement has revealed what was said to him after Rangers’ shock Scottish Cup exit to Queen’s Park as he demanded a reaction against Hearts on Sunday, live on Sky.
The Belgian admitted it had been a “very long week” as they assessed their 1-0 defeat to the mid-table Championship side which all but ended their hopes of domestic silverware this season.
Clement insists he has no guarantees about his long-term future at the club but is confident CEO Patrick Stewart and the Ibrox board remain behind him, amid calls from many fans for him to be sacked after just 16 months.
Sunday 16th February 11:00am
Kick off 12:00pm
“It has been a long week, a very long week compared to all the rest,” he said.
“I spoke to Patrick like I do after every game so nothing special as compared to other weeks.
Rangers CEO Patrick Stewart (L) backed manager Philippe Clement (R) last month
“Not one manager in the world has guarantees, maybe [Pep] Guardiola in Man City but he deserves also after all the things he did in a long spell there. So that’s part of football.
“We spoke about the game and that the result didn’t reflect the game also.
“I was also frustrated, devastated after the result. I was frustrated to be on the sideline during that game. You get that amount of chances and the moment you want to run on the field to shoot the ball yourself into the goal, but that’s not my job to do.
“And that’s been the case the first days of the week for everybody, all of us.
“You need to react now, that’s the important thing.”
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Former Rangers striker Kris Boyd reflects on his former side’s shock Scottish Cup exit to Queens Park and the Gers’ poor performance this season under Philippe Clement
While Rangers are in the last 16 of the Europa League, they lost the League Cup final against Celtic and could find themselves 16 points behind their Old Firm rivals in the Premiership before kick-off at Tynecastle Park on Sunday.
Clement admits he was wounded by the fan abuse he received when leaving Ibrox on Sunday, which made its way on to social media.
“It hurts, of course, because I told you guys in the good moments here, that the reason why I like this job is to do things with people together,” the Belgian manager added.
“We had already some amazing moments of synergy with the fans. Good moments, great moments, amazing evenings at Ibrox, European games away, winning a trophy together.
“So those are the good moments. This was clearly a bad moment. And of course, I also saw the video.
“I didn’t [see] that people were making a video, but in the media it shows what somebody was shouting at you.
“That moment, there were also a lot of young children still asking for an autograph and because of that, I stopped also for them.
“I understand the frustration of people and it’s difficult for me to say where line is, because it’s something personal.
“But a few weeks ago, for a manager [Stuart Kettlewell], a line was crossed and because of that he stopped [stood down from Motherwell].
“So it’s clear for me that I’m here, that I want to fight for this club. I want to get the results that we had the weeks before, to continue to develop this team and to make it better, and not get results like [Queen’s Park] again.”
Rangers’ upcoming fixtures:
- February 16: Hearts (A) – Scottish Premiership, live on Sky Sports
- February 22: St Mirren (H) – Scottish Premiership
- February 26: Kilmarnock (A) – Scottish Premiership, live on Sky Sports
- March 1: Motherwell (H) – Scottish Premiership
- March 6: TBC – Europa League last-16
- March 13: TBC – Europa League last-16
- March 16: Celtic (A) – Scottish Premiership, live on Sky Sports
