Philippe Clement confident he has long term backing of Rangers board

Philippe Clement is confident he has the long term backing of the Rangers board and insists “we are going to stick together for the next couple of years”.

The Ibrox club have slumped to nine points behind Celtic and Aberdeen at the top of the Premiership after an underwhelming start to the season.

Clement believes Rangers can produce another turnaround like this time last year when the team returned to the title race after being a similar distance behind when the Belgian was appointed.

Clement signed a new contract extension in August that will keep him at the club until the summer of 2028 but his future is subject to increasing speculation following a 2-1 defeat by Aberdeen at Pittodrie on Wednesday night.

The plight of Clement adds to the sense of turmoil around Ibrox with the club operating without a permanent chairman, chief executive or director of football while on Tuesday it was revealed they made a net loss of £17.2m last season.

He said: “You saw last season, that with the right conclusions and right attitude and right mentality, with the right spirit, things can change really fast and we are working really hard on that with all the group.

“We are working with them on what to do on the pitch, the right things to do off the pitch, and what this club is all about.

“Every loss is a drama, it is a really bad thing, that is what you need to live with and what you need to embrace but because of that you also have the good moments.”

Ahead of the League Cup semi-final against Motherwell at Hampden Park on Sunday, where the winners will face either Celtic or Aberdeen in the final, Clement was asked how confident he was that people above him in the club will have faith in him even if results do not turn around instantly.

He said: “I haven’t had discussions about that in the last couple of weeks, they (the board) have been really busy with lots of other things.

“I am very confident (the board have faith in the long-term project even if results don’t come instantly) because that was always the really clear message.

“They know everything about the numbers and what has been necessary and I think I have said it enough about the consequences of that.

“The project I started in June, was a different project to the one I started last October and we had this talk in June that it was a really, really big challenge.

“That’s why we had contract negotiations at that time, I have belief in all these people because it was all of the board together and the story from before was not sustainable.

“They didn’t want to go back to 2012 when the club was bankrupt, so there has had to be a major turnaround in every sense. There had to be young players coming in, there had to be a cut of wages in the squad, there had to be a lot of transfers, we wanted more outgoing transfers to get more money in but that was not possible in the end.

“So the club knows where it is coming from and this is the start of a better period, you don’t see that in results just now, that is true, but there is now a foundation being built for the future and for a more healthy club to grow out of that.

“We know how difficult it will be, we are going to stick together and be in this project together for the next couple of years and that has been talked about clearly.”

Clement’s message to the doubting fans was to stick with him as he tries to get the team back on track.

“It is about the small margins every game, last season we turned it around in a really short period and I am convinced that can happen again.

“I wish we got the victory in Aberdeen, that would have been a big step forward, we didn’t manage to do that.

“But I saw a team that tried until the last second of the game, in the last minute we had a header by James Tavernier just past the post.

“So it’s not that the team don’t want or they give up, or anything like that.

“So we’re going to continue fighting to get results our way and to make things better, and for sure, more consistent, to get more football like we saw against Malmo, against FCSB, more regularly.

”I’m going work really hard on that. I’m going do the same as I did last season, and the same as I’m doing now.

“And I do a little bit more in the club than that moment because there are also a lot of other things to do.

“But for sure, I’m very confident about that. I feel also how the team works, how they were in the meeting today also.

“It’s not a team that doesn’t take responsibility. They took responsibility in things, the staff took responsibility, I take responsibility, and we all go forward to make things better.”