Unbowed Philippe Clement has urged the frustrated Ibrox fanbase to stick by his side after insisting he’s doubly convinced Rangers remain on the right track under his leadership.
A growing section of the Light Blues legions are beginning to lose faith in the Belgian after Sunday’s defeat to Kilmarnock saw his slip six points adrift of Premiership pacesetters Celtic and Aberdeen just eight games into the season. Some fans are even openly calling for a change in management having seen enough of Clement’s new-look outfit.
That appears unlikely after the Ibrox board handed the former Club Brugge and Monaco gaffer a new four-year deal at the start of the campaign. And Clement himself is in no mood to quit, defiantly insisting he’s still the man to lead the Rangers resurgence. Asked ahead of tonight’s Europa League clash with Steaua Bucharest if he was confident his team were still on a trajectory back to the top, he declared: “For sure. 200 percent.
“We spoke about a big rebuild, about cutting wages to make the club sustainable for now and the future. So I stepped in that story after long talks for the long term, also to make long term decisions together with the squad, together with the board towards that for the future. So we are working really hard with the players, everybody in the staff, to make it as fast as possible back at the level that this club was maybe 12, 15 years ago or in moments in the last couple of years, but never over a long period.
“That takes time and we’re going to work hard on that. It’s a process you need to follow. It’s about performing well, maybe less days and you want to avoid that as much as possible. So that was one of the lower days, for sure, against Kilmarnock. Now it’s about reacting towards the style of Bucharest. But I have a lot of confidence in this squad for the short term and for sure for the long term also.”
Clement arrived insetting he was no Harry Potter character waving a magic wand as he was charged with repairing the damage done under Michael Beale’s tenure. All the progress he made last year – including a League Cup triumph and run to the last 16 of the Europa League – has disappeared in a puff of smoke this term, though, after he was forced to overhaul his squad while slashing wages.
But he knows if he’s to have a chance of surviving, he’ll have to find a way to get the fans back under his spell. It’s going to help,” said Clement. “And we talked a lot about that last season. And all the fans were behind the story. They were really happy. I didn’t go into the hype or the Harry Potter stories in that moment. So I don’t go into the drama now. There is a big space in between and we’re in that space in between. And the fans will see in the next months that this team will become better.
“But the more they stick behind the team, the more they are positive, the more they are supporting, the more they give the team energy, the faster it will go also. But we understand also from our side that the fans need to see things on the pitch. So we were not happy with the performance in that way against Kilmarnock.
“I don’t want to hide behind excuses of the Rugby park pitch. It’s a reason, but I don’t want to use that. We’re going to keep on working hard to make things better as fast as possible.”
Striker Danilo stepped up his return to action with a goal for the B Team in Tuesday night’s SPFL Trust Trophy but the ineligible hitman won’t be back to face tonight’s Romanian opponents, who have six points out of six so far.
Fellow crock Ridvan Yilmaz is included on Gers’ UEFA list but Clement said: “He’s not yet in the selection because Ridvan trained now the second time with the first team, but he came out of a serious injury. It’s too fast for him to be put in again, but he’s in a positive way.”
Controversial Bucharest chairman Gigi Becali has caused a stir after naming a second string starting line-up which he’ll order coach Elias Charalambous to send out at Ibrox. Clement isn’t buying that – and doesn’t fancy the prospect of working under the Steaua president either.
“I will never go to Steaua Bucharest,” he said after being informed Becali picks the Romanian’s XI. First, I get information that there were already two teams that were announced. I hope they only play with one! No, we’re focused on ourselves. I don’t believe that people will throw away money with points in the Europa League if they don’t commit their best teams.”