Rangers manager Philippe Clement claims he is ‘not concerned’ about the Ibrox board giving him the chop after falling 14 points behind Celtic.
Philippe Clement’s young Rangers squad had begun to pick up a head of steam but have been derailed by defeat to St Mirren in Paisley and a lacklustre draw away to Motherwell.
Rangers are now set to host Celtic in the Scottish Premiership and can cut the gap to 11 points, a total which is insurmountable in the minds of plenty in Scotland.
Rangers did have the chance to bring the gap to six but have since blown it big time and Rangers fans have finally said ‘enough is enough’.
But whilst fan feeling is very much in the ‘Clement Out’ camp, the Rangers manager insists he’s just focused on eradicating the individual errors which have plagued recent performances.
Philippe Clement ‘not concerned’ by Rangers sack talk
”I’m not concerned,” Clement told reporters when asked about the board potentially losing faith in his management.
”Because I’m only busy with the team and we knew before this season what a challenging project this would be.
”On that side, it’s difficult to speak about that because you will not understand and people outside maybe will not understand.
”But there’s been an evolution made. The last two games not, for sure not.
”And we have hurt ourselves in that way but there were good games the last couple of weeks where the team showed the potential.
”In that way there are already teams interested in some players for the future, what we didn’t have the last two years.
”So we’re taking steps but you cannot speak about that after losing points against St Mirren and Motherwell, I know.
”We hurt ourselves, we, that’s the players, staff, me, altogether, the responsibility that we get these goals against.
”The difficulty in that is that is that’s it’s avoidable individual mistakes in that moment and two times the opponent kills it off directly, not missing the chance but they directly score.
”So we need to work hard now to in a few days be much more resilient and much more determined in these defensive actions.
”That’s going to be one part of the game but also of course with the ball, to show what theory showed in this cup final.”
’Rangers board need to decide’
The Rangers manager then pointed to the new contract handed to Philippe Clement on the eve of the Scottish Premiership season.
The Belgian boss has had to contend with some serious issues not of his own doing, with the Hampden relocation and the club’s poorly constructed, overpaid squad hamstringing the summer months.
With several key players leaving at the end of their contracts and a limited budget to replace them, Rangers have stuttered their way through the first half of the season.
Philippe Clement has suggested that such tumultuous navigation was predicted with in Ibrox and that’s precisely why he was handed a new contract ahead of the 0-0 draw with Hearts.
Beyond that, Clement reckons the board ‘needs to decide’ if its the circumstances, or his management, that is the problem.
”They made a really clear statement about that already in the beginning of the season,” said Clement.
”And now also with the people involved.
”Do you think with another manager we would’ve not had made mistakes today defensively? Was it a problem that the structure of the team was not good?
”Those are things that the board needs to decide.”
