Under-fire Rangers boss Philippe Clement insists he’s never felt like throwing the towel in at Ibrox.
The Belgian is under intense scrutiny right now with his side 15 points behind Celtic at the top of the Premiership table. They also lost the first silverware of the season, the Premier Sports Cup, to their bitter city rivals at Hampden. Rangers fans aren’t happy with the running of the club or the inconsistency of Clement’s side – and vented their anger via protests on Sunday in the victory over St Johnstone.
They’ve won just three of their 11 away games this season, which has allowed Celtic to stretch their lead in the title race. Clement had his transfer budget cut in the summer and is fighting to make one or two additions in the January window. While new CEO Patrick Stewart has initiated a root and branch review of the footballing department at Auchenhowie. But despite all the negativity surrounding Clement and Gers, the gaffer is adamant that it has never crossed his mind to leave.
Speaking before the Aberdeen game, Clement said: “There has never been a time I’ve thought I could do without this. The bigger the challenge, the more hungry I am in life. A lot of people realise that many things changed here which made it more complicated in the last few months. But that just makes the challenge bigger for me to get to where we want to be. It’s good now that we’re all aligned and have the same plan towards getting there. That’s crucial. What is it within me that wants to keep going? It’s because I’m a winner.
“And I’ve always been. When I was young, no-one believed I’d be a professional football player. When I was a player, no-one believed I’d get into the national team. So it’s about being hungry every morning you wake up and getting better. That’s my ambition and it will never change.”
A group of fans staged a 55th minute walk-out at the weekend, as well as holding banners aimed at the board. When Clement arrived he felt he’d rebuilt a bond with supporters, which has now been damaged again. But he’s convinced he can get it back, starting tomorrow night against Aberdeen.
He said: “We want to rebuild the synergy between the team and the fans to get it back. But it’s about performances and doing the right things. We did it for a long spell against St Johnstone but not long enough. But during that positive period the synergy was there. Are we further away from that compared to when I came here? No, because we had it two weeks ago (v Celtic). That’s not so long ago.”
Rangers face a massive game against the Dons, who haven’t won in 11 league games – but have strengthened their squad in the January window. Clement has had to deal with a defensive injury crisis recently but revealed that skipper James Tavernier and centre-back Leon Balogun are in contention to make a comeback at Ibrox.
He said: “We have two players back in training, Tav and Leon, so we’ll see on Wednesday whether they have a reaction or not. We’ll see if they’re available for selection but it’s a positive to get players back. Of course, they haven’t trained much but it’s a positive that they’re back.”