NOT PHIL-ING IT
Philippe Clement opens up on THAT Rangers fan video outside Ibrox after Scottish Cup exit as he admits the abuse ‘hurts’
The gaffer admits he understands fans' frustrations
FOR one top-flight manager the abuse was too much.
Rather than put up with a relentless barrage of bile from some so-called fans, Stuart Kettlewell quit Motherwell last month.
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Last Sunday - in the wake of defeat to Queen’s Park in the Scottish Cup - Philippe Clement was branded an imposter by his own supporters and forced to walk a gauntlet of hate.
No matter the magnitude of Gers’ loss, it crossed a line.
Clement emerged yesterday battered and bruised at the end of one of the worst weeks of his managerial career.
But he did so vowing to fight on.
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The Rangers boss admitted: “It hurts, of course.
“It’s not my job to say that it crossed a line because it's something that'S personal.
“We had a case a few weeks ago where a line was crossed and because of that he stopped.
"So it's clearly not for me because I am here, I want to fight for this club.
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“I told you guys the thing I like about this job is to do things with people together.
“We already had some amazing moments of synergy with the fans, some good moments, some great moments, some amazing evenings at Ibrox.
Under-fire Rangers boss Philippe Clement breaks silence on his future after THAT Scottish Cup disaster
“We won a trophy together too, so those are the good moments.
“This was clearly a bad moment.
“I saw the video also. I didn't look at the people who were making the video.
“At that moment there were also a lot of young children still asking for an autograph. Because of that, I stopped also for them.
“So it's a lot of things at the same moment.
“I understand the frustration of people.
“I want to get the results that we had the week before to continue to develop this team and to make it better and not to get results like that again.
“It doesn't mean, however, that it doesn't hurt at that moment.”
Rangers fans are still reeling from one of the worst results in their club’s history.
They will be reeling for a while yet.
It was Queen’s Park’s first win over Gers since 1948.
It was the first time they’d beaten them in the Scottish Cup in 143 YEARS - effectively ending Gers’ hopes of silverware for another season in the process.
Rangers stunned
By JOHN SHIELDS
RANGERS had only lost twice to lower-league opposition in the Scottish Cup in their 152-year - before yesterday.
They crashed 3-2 to St Bernard's in the quarter-finals on January 28, 1893.
And they also were defeated 1-0 by Berwick Rangers at Shielfield Park on the same date in 1967.
Sammy Reid emerged as the match winner for The Wee Rangers in a seismic shock.
Two Gers stars - George McLean and James Forrest - never played for the club again.
Amazingly, Gers recovered to reach the European Cup Winners' Cup final just four months later.
All week the anger and resentment has been building.
But instead of addressing the supporters, the silence from inside Ibrox has been deafening.
By Friday, instead of a statement of intent from new chief executive Patrick Stewart, it was left to Clement to attempt to pick up the pieces.
He said “It's not my thing to say if somebody should have reacted or not.
“I do my job and clearly I didn't do my job well in the last game because we didn't get the result.
“The week before, or the month before, clearly was better and I'm very motivated to do my job this week to get the result at Hearts and all my focus is on that.”
It all seemed rather stage-managed with Clement, at times, working off a prepared script.
What is real is his desire to turn it around and get things right at Rangers.
He said: “I know why I made my decision to come here and it's because of this synergy with the fans and because I know how great this place can be if you have success, if you win trophies.
“So there is my hunger, my desire for all of that.
“That's a choice I made before I came compared with other teams who were interested at that moment.
“Sunday was a really down moment, a hard moment, a moment that I understand all the reactions that have followed.
Rangers v Queen's Park man bys
By ANDY DEVLIN
Rangers: (4-2-3-1) Kelly 0; Tavernier 0, Fernandes 0, Propper 0, Jefte 0; Diomande 0, Rice 0; Bajrami 0 Hagi 0, Cerny 0; Igamane 0.
Subs: Dessers 0 (Bajrami 46), Raskin 0 (Rice 46) Yilmaz 0 (Hagi 60) Souttar 0 (Fernandes 60) Lawrence 0 (Diomande 87)
Queen’s Park: (4-4-1-1) Ferrie 10, Mauchin 10, Ujdur 10, Tizzard 10, Scott 10; Turner 10, Longridge 10, Welsh 10, Duncan 10; Hurst 10; Rudden 10.
Subs: Drozd 10 (Hurst 67) Montgomery 10 (Scott 72)
“But I also know all these other reactions also from the past and how great a place this can be.
“So my determination day and night is to make that story better, to get this consistency.
“That's what we need to build with the squad to get this consistency every three days and that's what fans expect.
“I will admit It's a challenging one with the resources for the moment.
“The club wanted to do more things in January, it was not possible.
“So it's going on with the team now and I'm really excited also about the evolution of all these players, where it will get, how far they can get, how much progression they can make.
“I see a lot of potential in that, but we didn't see it on the pitch last Sunday.
“Totally true and they acknowledge that.
“This team is really honest also, I have to say.
“They're really honest about if they didn't perform, there's nobody thinking 'I was good - but the others…'.
“It's totally not the case.
“So they were all devastated like me, like the staff, like everybody after the game.
“But now it's about looking forward and getting a reaction.
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“That's the thing, if you as an athlete, you have a defeat, you cannot dwell on that because then you throw away all these other opportunities that can come after.
“They need to react now, we all need to react now.”
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