Philippe Clement admits he’s run out of credit with the Rangers support but Connor Barron says the players are still banking on his Belgian boss.
Clement’s confession came after the dismal home draw with Dundee United dropped Gers 11 points off the title pace. The Ibrox squad leave the latest domestic debacle behind and fly out to Nice on Wednesday. Clement’s crew are bidding to build on a tidy seven-point start to their Europa League campaign. And Barron insists it is every Rangers player’s duty to pull for the under-fire boss as the pressure piles on Clement.
When asked if the dressing room was behind the manager, Barron replied: “Yes, we’re all pulling in the same direction. We’re all in it together. The gaffer has been fine. He’s been positive, looking at things. We are over the game; we’ve debriefed and gone over the things that we need to do better.
“Everyone feels that we haven’t done our job on the day. Everyone takes responsibility for that. It’s not just down on one person’s shoulders; it’s us out on the pitch that need to be pulling our weight as well.
“We all know that everyone is part of the result at the end of the day. We are a team. It’s down to all of us to go out on Thursday night and make sure we get a result. We know we’ve got to bounce back.”
Barron revealed the entire squad agreed, in the wake of the United draw, that the slow start was unacceptable at Ibrox. Sam Dalby fired Jim Goodwin’s men ahead and Vaclav Cerny’s second half leveller was needed to bail Rangers out.
The former Aberdeen midfielder admitted the rage of the home punters was understandable. And he implored his teammates to respond with two away victories this week – in the south of France then against St Johnstone in Perth on Sunday lunchtime.
On the fans’ anger, Barron said: “You obviously hear it, but you’ve got to block it out at the same time. You’ve got to use it as fuel and make sure you bounce back and make them happy. We’ve got to go out and get three points every time. We haven’t been doing that, especially at the weekend, but we’ve got a chance to go and do it this week.
“We’re definitely confident we can. You want to walk off that pitch with the fans all smiling and cheering on your name. That’s our job, to go and do that. Everyone’s on the same page – that the first half on Saturday was slack from us.
“They obviously had the opportunity and they scored from it. We didn’t take responsibility and take our chances during the game. There was a reaction in the second half where we should have grabbed the goal or two.
“It wasn’t good enough. Everyone knows, everyone’s been in the game long enough, everyone’s been in different dressing rooms. Everyone knows what’s right from wrong and it’s just about taking those little mistakes out of our play. Then things will be completely different.
“Sometimes when teams are coming here to Ibrox they’re sitting in a wee bit more. Then it’s down to us, we’ve still got to go out and do our job on the pitch.”
Barron is set to make his 22nd appearance for the club at the Allianz Riviera. The team’s away form in Europe is a far cry from wretched recent results on the Premiership road. Losses at Kilmarnock and Aberdeen have seen title hopes disintegrated already.
Yet in continental competition they’ve draw in Kyiv in Champions League qualifying, beaten Malmo 2-0 and, last time out, gained a fine point from a tough test at Olympiakos. FCSB were brushed aside 4-0 in Govan and the only setback in the group was a 4-1 loss to Lyon who lie a point behind fifth-placed Nice in Ligue 1.
Barron, 22, added: “I think we’ve been strong in Europe but we’ve got to make sure we pull that into the league as well. It’s hard to say if our style suits Europe better because we’ve played against different styles.
“It’s hard to put your finger on it. I just know we’ve got to find the consistency – and we’ve got to find it quick. We can’t just be up and down, up and down. Nice are a good side. We’ve done our work on them and we’ll continue to do that before we fly out.
“We know what we’re up against. It’ll be a tough game but we’ve got to go and implement our style and make sure we come away with the three points. That’s how it is at Rangers Football Club. There are big games round the corner every few days so you’ve got to move on quickly and that’s what we’ll do. We’re ready to go.”
Barron has settled in best of the new boys but he says pleasing personal form counts for nothing if that doesn’t add up to results. “Look, it’s down to us as a team, not individuals,” he stressed. “That’s the most important thing at this football club. It’s going to take a team performance out in Nice, that’s for sure.
“It’s going to take everyone pulling in the same direction and making sure that we come away with the win. You’re going to get pressure at this club every time. It’s all about how you handle it – and that’s what we’ve got to do. We’ve got to thrive off that and make sure we do our jobs.”
*Connor Barron joined a host of Rangers legends and Variety Scotland ambassadors at Ibrox as a new coach, dedicated to the memory of Walter Smith, was presented to pupils of Hazelwood School.