Under-fire Rangers manager Philippe Clement insists the club are “200 per cent” on the right track and claims fans can help with positive energy.
The Govan club is in disarray following a 1-0 William Hill Premiership defeat at Kilmarnock on Sunday.
Disgruntled fans paraded banners at that game which read, ‘the mismanagement of Rangers must stop and stop now’, after initial banners noted that the club has no permanent chairman, chief executive officer or director of football operations.
Rangers are six points behind Celtic and Aberdeen at the top of the league table as they prepare to take on Romanian club FCSB, formerly known as Steaua Bucharest, in the Europa League at Ibrox on Thursday night.
At a media conference at the training ground, Belgian Clement was asked if he was confident that Rangers are still on an improvement trajectory.
“For sure, 200 per cent,” he said, and then addressed the part supporters might play, even if results do not always follow.
Clement, who when he came into the club just over a year ago warned that he did not have a Harry Potter magic wand, said: “Yes, because it’s going to help. And we talked a lot about that last season and all the fans were behind the story.
“They were really happy with the story. I didn’t go in the hype that moment or in the Harry Potter stories in that moment.
“So I don’t go in the drama now. There is a big space in between and we’re in that space in between.
“And the fans will see the next months that this team will become better. But the more they stick behind the team, the more they are positive, the more they are supporting, the more they give the team energy, the faster it will go.
“But we understand also from our side that the fans need to also see things on the pitch.
“So we were not happy with the performance against Kilmarnock. All of us were not happy about that.
“And I don’t want to hide behind excuses of the (artificial) pitch. It’s kind of a reason, but I don’t want to use that. Not before the game, not after the game. So we’re going to keep on working hard to make things better as fast as possible.”
Clement admits he is looking for more leaders in the squad and will note which players react positively and negatively to the Kilmarnock defeat.
“We’re working on that to make it (leadership) better and better and we have several,” he added.
“We had more before because we had a more mature squad. That’s logical. There are several young players with potential to grow in that way.
“I use Connor Barron as an example in that way. He did really good things in his first weeks in the club here and he has a lot of potential for the future in that way.
“But of course, being a leader in Rangers is something else than to be in another club.
“So you need to grow in that role. That’s also part of all this process, giving these players responsibilities, giving them the mandate to be a leader in that way and to evolve and become stronger. And also to see how people react in the difficult moments.
“Like now, after Kilmarnock. It’s very interesting now to see who stands up, who has more difficulty with that, who has more difficulty with all the negative attention on social media or in the newspapers or whatever.
“Because it’s also part of being a player at Rangers that when you don’t win, you’re not good as a player, as a manager, as a press officer, as a chairman, as whoever it is.
“That’s part of being at this club. It’s also the part everybody needs to embrace because this passion from the fans, from everybody, you get it back in the good moments.”
