Philippe Clement insisted he’s not worrying about his Ibrox future after revealing he’s already held talks with new CEO Patrick Stewart, writes Andy Newport from France.
Gers announced earlier this week that former Manchester United exec has finally been appointed as James Bisgrove’s replacement following a six-month search. The news came just 24 hours after senior Ibrox sources were forced to step in and quell wild WhatsApp rumours that spread like wildfire, claiming boss Clement was on the verge of being sacked.
Saturday’s dismal 1-1 draw at home to Dundee United has yet again ramped up the pressure on the Beleaguered Belgian, with his Light Blues line-up now 11 points behind Celtic. But Clement shrugged off the speculation as insisted his focus remains solely on the task of turning his struggling side around.
And he’s declared he’s looking to the future with optimism after holding his first discussions with new boardroom chief Stewart. Speaking ahead of Thursday’s Europa League clash Nice in south-east France, he said: ”I had a meeting with the new CEO. It was a really good talk and that’s it.
“No, I’m not busy with [my future]. I’m busy with the team. I’m busy with getting results. I was disappointed about the first half against United that we didn’t show enough quality, the quality the team showed in the second half.
“It’s a game that you need to win and that you win nine out of 10 or 99 out of 100 if you create that amount of chances. And then you need to take the right conclusions out of that what we did with the team and we look forward now towards this game in Europe.”
Gers have been on the hunt for a new chief exec since Bisgrove quit unexpectedly in May to move to Saudi Arabia. Clement is pleased the position will now finally be filled when Aberdeen-born Stewart starts work on December 16. But he shied away from using the long delay in replacing Bisgrove as justification for this term’s repeated disappointments.
“I don’t want to use excuses,” he said. “I don’t want the players to use excuses. Never. So whatever is going on in the club, yes or no, we need to perform together. We need to win together. We know what Rangers is about. That’s why we want to be here also. All the players. Everybody who came, you already knew also the story from my side before that it’s all about winning. And we are busy with creating that culture in the dressing room, on the pitch.
“The new CEO is a very important thing because the last couple of months there was a big vacuum in the club and a lot of things could not be decided at that moment because there was nobody to decide those kind of things. So I’m really happy that Patrick is here now.
“We had a really good talk about everything, about the past year, my experiences. He’s doing that with all the people in the club to make a good analysis.
“And that he can start in a good way. He’s going to start halfway in December I think. So that we can make a step forward again. “Because of course for any club in the world it’s not good to be in that kind of vacuum situation.”
Stewart’s first day in the job will come 24 hours after Clement leads his side out at Hampden for the Premier Sports Cup final. Some fans are speculating that his first task could be to dismiss the former Monaco gaffer if his team lose out again to Celtic. But Clement believes he should be cut some slack having had to overhaul his squad in the summer.
He said: “Everybody’s talking about one year and it’s not a reality. It’s four months now that there’s been a rebuild. A lot of things changed in the club so going back to that again, chairman who’s not there anymore, CEO who’s not there anymore, director of operations who’s not there anymore, academy director who’s not there anymore and a lot of other people also in the club. So referring to one year, it’s not correct.
“It’s about the last four or five months, a lot of changes have been made, 16 players in the squad, building a new squad and adapting the players towards what Rangers is about. There were good moments, there were good games, there were good results, there were bad moments, losing points that we didn’t want to lose, that we cannot lose. We know the standards that Rangers are about but we’re working all together really hard to get this consistency more because it’s more about consistency also.”