A despondent Philippe Clement offered up apologies to Rangers fans after the club fell to a historic defeat against St Mirren at Ibrox.
Rangers had the chance to cut the gap at the top of the Scottish Premiership to ten points after Celtic had been defeated by Hibs earlier in the day.
But Steven Robinson’s side put in a spirited display to record a deserved 2-0 victory over a listless Rangers side in Glasgow.
The result is coincidentally the Paisley club’s first win at Ibrox since 1991.
Philippe Clement spoke to BBC Sportsound come full-time and offered his apologies to a furious Rangers support who booed their team off the park.
Philippe Clement ‘sorry’ for ‘nervous’ Rangers showing
”I can say only sorry and apologise out of me, out of the team,” Clement said come full-time.
”Because this is not what Rangers teams need to show on the pitch.
”We all know that this was by far below the standards that we all expect.“
The Rangers manager was also left speechless by his team’s tepid performance, the Gers well-beaten in every department by St Mirren.
The Ibrox boss pointed to a nervousness in the Rangers team before taking responsibility for his failure to install the right ‘mindset’ in his players before kick-off.
”Cannot explain (it) for the moment,” said Clement. “We were very nervous from the start of the game on the ball and that created chances for the opponent.
”We had spells when we were better but by far not good enough for the standards of Rangers.
”It’s difficult to explain. I said and everybody saw that the team was very nervous today on the ball.
”Was it because they wanted to do it too good and to react and to give the fans much more?
“We need to look at the root of the problem and speak with the team about that, what was the feeling in the game.
”But in the end that’s my responsibility to get them with the right mindset on the pitch also.”
Philippe Clement promises to ‘fight to the end’ at Rangers
Philippe Clement now finds himself under extraordinary pressure at Rangers with fans turning on the Ibrox manager in their numbers.
The Rangers manager has previously come out fighting when grilled on his future but this time around sent a more subdued message.
Claiming that he won’t quit the job at hand at Rangers, Clement promised to fight until the very, bitter end.
”I’m always fighting until the end,” said Clement.
”I wanted to be on the field to fight. I cannot do that so my task is to do it from the sidelines and to get the team in the right mindset.
”That was not the case today so I need to find a solution for that.“
When asked if he would have any complaints should the Rangers board choose to sack him this week, Philippe Clement refused to be drawn on ‘hypothetical’ questions.
”I’m not busy with those questions or those things,” said Clement.
”I am busy finding solutions to get Rangers back to the level they should be.”
