Philippe Clement insists ‘nothing special’ in board talks after cup exit

Philippe Clement spoke to chief executive Patrick Stewart following Rangers’ dismal defeat by Queen’s Park last Sunday but insists it was business as usual.

Pressure piled on the Belgian boss and the Ibrox board after the embarrassing 1-0 defeat at home to the Championship side in the Scottish Gas Scottish Cup fifth round.

Rangers sit 13 points behind William Hill Premiership leaders Celtic and will surely end the domestic season trophyless, although they are in the last 16 of the Europa League.

Ahead of the game against Hearts at Tynecastle on Sunday, Clement said: “It’s been a long week, a very long week compared to all the rest.

“And after a defeat like that, where you’re full of frustrations about the result, you want a game as fast as possible to react, to do the right things, to give the fans the right things also. So it’s a long week in that sense.

“And I spoke with Patrick, like after after every game. So nothing special in comparison with other weeks.

“Not one manager in the world has guarantees – maybe Pep Guardiola at Man City, which he deserves after all the things he did in a long spell there.

“So that’s part of football, but we spoke about the game and that the result didn’t reflect the game. But of course, we need to react.

“That’s the most important thing after a defeat, an unacceptable defeat, going out of the cup which we’re all devastated about and sick about.

“That’s been the case the first days of the week for everybody, all of us, and you need to react now.”

Clement admits he was wounded by the fan abuse he received when leaving Ibrox on Sunday and which made its way on to social media.

He said: “It hurts, of course, because I told you guys in the good moments here, that the reason why I like this job is to do things with people together.

“We had already some amazing moments of synergy with the fans. Good moments, great moments, amazing evenings at Ibrox, European games away, winning a trophy together.

“So those are the good moments. This was clearly a bad moment. And of course, I also saw the video.

“I didn’t (see) that people were making a video, but in the media it shows what somebody was shouting at you.

“That moment, there were also a lot of young children still asking for an autograph and because of that, I stopped also for them.

“I understand the frustration of people and it’s difficult for me to say where line is, because it’s something personal.

“But a few weeks ago, for a manager (Stuart Kettlewell), a line was crossed and because of that he stopped (stood down from Motherwell).

“So it’s clear for me that I’m here, that I want to fight for this club. I want to get the results that we had the weeks before, to continue to develop this team and to make it better, and not get results like (Queen’s Park) again.”