'I understand': Philippe Clement addresses Rangers resignation question amid baying mob and apologises for F-bomb

The beleaguered Belgian saw his side knocked out of the competition by lower league opposition at Ibrox for the first time in history as a second-half strike from substitute Seb Drozd and a heroic stoppage-time penalty save by goalkeeper Calum Ferrie from James Tavernier sent the Championship side into the quarter-finals.

A crowd of Rangers supporters gathered outside the stadium’s main entrance after full-time to call for Clement to go, less than a month since he received the backing of the board after another angry backlash following a poor spell of results in the league which has left his side 13 points behind Celtic.

The shock defeat has left Rangers staring at a trophyless season. However, Clement stressed that he will not walk away.

“No, totally not,” he responded when asked if he would consider his own position. ”I understand that the fans are in emotions now. I know a lot of fans were on my side three hours ago. I know that. So now are the emotions of this game and I totally understand that because I'm also angry and frustrated about that, about this result and going out of the Cup because it was one of our big goals and our shortest chance to go to win a trophy this season. We all know that. That's probably also one of the reasons that the team was nervous in the second half because they wanted that so much because they know how important it is for the club.”

Clement also indicated that he does not expect to be summoned to a board meeting in the coming days after one of the worst result’s in the club’s history.

“No, I don't expect this because you can put another manager or coach in this game,” continued Clement. “Would it be different in that sense? So what was good yesterday, the progression was made and top eight in Europe and more consistency in the league and all these things, they don't change in 90 minutes. If you do that and make decisions in that way, then you make only decisions out of emotions and not out of what's been going on. So I don't expect this now.”

Clement claimed the result was not down to team selection or tactics, rather his players losing composure in the second half as they chased an elusive goal. His frustration was evident during the post-match grilling as he apologised for using the F-word. “Of course it's unacceptable, this result. Clearly, that's unacceptable. And we lost our composure, that's the main thing of today. We lost our cool in the second half to make the right decisions in the box. And we had a goalkeeper against who probably played the game of his life also. So you need to take that on the chin and it's a hard one to take. It's a hold-up today. It's a f****** frustrating one. Sorry to use that word. But it's my feeling for the moment. So I'm as frustrated as everybody else.”