'Emotional' Rangers star breaks silence on Clement sacking and lifts lid on a turbulent week at Ibrox

Cyriel Dessers admits it’s been a 'tough' past few days at Rangers but the comeback win over Kilmarnock brought out a few smiles again

Cyriel Dessers has lifted the lid on the dressing-room emotions through a turbulent week at Rangers.

And, despite smashing through the 20-goal mark to emerge from the darkness, the hitman admits he’d instantly trade the landmark number for a trophy. Dessers made an immediate impact for new manager Barry Ferguson with two priceless second-half strikes to turn the tide at Kilmarnock.

The Nigerian international ensured his boss emerged from a catastrophic start on the first night at the helm to claim a cherished fightback victory. It was a rollercoaster beginning for the gaffer and a moment of joy and relief at full-time for the players who have been through the wringer in recent times.

Signed by Michael Beale, Dessers watched that gaffer slammed through the exit door. Replaced by Philippe Clement, the Belgian also collected his jotters in the wake of desperate home losses to Queen’s Park and St Mirren with Ferguson thrust into the interim position.

Having admitted the players had been letting down fans and the club as Clement departed, Dessers and the squad had to quickly grasp the situation as they headed for Ayrshire.

The striker was asked about his old gaffer’s sacking and said: “It’s always tough because people talk a lot about football, but we also see the human side and that’s really tough and emotional for everybody in the building. But then 48 hours later you have an important game and you have to get your head back in it and find your feet.”

When it started at Rugby Park, it was as if the effects of the previous events were still swirling in the minds of the troops and seeping into their legs. Just one training session into the Ferguson reign and 15 minutes into their first game, Rangers were 2-0 down and in turmoil.

However, the response was impressive to reply with four goals to win and Dessers said: “Obviously now, nice emotions, but I think we had a very tough first 20-30 minutes.”

Rangers stars rolled their sleeves up in the face of adversity and he continued: “No, that’s it. It has been very weird days. So maybe that’s something that was still in the legs in the first 20 minutes, but that’s not an excuse.

“Then if you can see how we react after that, the character we showed in a difficult game, difficult opponent, difficult place to come, then I can be very proud of our team. We have to be better, we have to start better, but I’m glad we showed the reaction. I think that’s a huge thing for us and that should give us confidence for the next weeks.

“But it’s just about consistency. If you can do it in a tough place [Kilmarnock], then I think you can do it on every pitch in Scotland and that’s just what we have to show.”

In the process of assisting his team, Dessers also hit a personal milestone. Despite the troubles of the campaign and the regular disappointment under Clement, the attacker has never hid and kept putting his hand up for responsibility.

As younger talents such as Hamza Igamane struggled at Rugby Park, it was a senior figures who stepped up and Dessers delivered. Of course, scoring landmarks mean something for strikers as he said: “Twenty goals in February is not bad, but there are still three months to play. I want more, more goals, more wins. So we just have to keep going.”

Listening to his response and reading his facial expressions, it was clear that the personal achievements don’t hold that much weight if there isn’t team success to go along with it.

That was subsequently put to Dessers and he nodded: “Exactly, it’s like you say. Goals and personal milestones are nice, but you want the team milestones and that’s winning cups, winning league titles.

“We’ll do everything for that, game by game and just focus on, like you say, for example now, focus on Saturday, next game at Ibrox. We have to do something for our fans, give them something back after the last two performances there. So I think that’s where we need to start.”

Clearly, there hasn’t been much time for Dessers or the rest of the squad to get a real feel for the training-ground workings of Ferguson and his coaching staff of Neil McCann, Billy Dodds and Allan McGregor and the tactical elements which they will instill into the line-up. He said: “That’s very, very early because we only had one training session with him.”

However, desire, commitment, a willingness to run and fight doesn’t come from a whiteboard or any tactical manual. That comes from within and it’s clear it will be driven by the new manager who is demanding such traits as the very minimum.

Ferguson will return to Ibrox as manager for the first time on Saturday against Motherwell with the crowd desperate to see something far better than the awful experiences of their last two visits against Queens and Saints.

Dessers wants Killie to be a platform, but added: “We wanted that last Saturday as well and we didn’t manage to. So the hunger will be even more to show something on Saturday. It will not be an easy game. Motherwell is a tricky team as well, but for us at home, we need to win this game, so we need to go hard.”