Philippe Clement flummoxed by Rangers situation as ball placed in board's court after mass fan walkout

The Rangers manager described the performance as the worst in his 16 months at the club, which is quite an admission given his side slipped to such a historic reversal on their previous Ibrox outing.

Second-half goals from Mikael Mandron, which was reinstated after being chalked off for a foul initially, and substitute Olutoyosi Olusanya gave dominant St Mirren their first win at Ibrox since November 1991.

Worryingly for Rangers fans, Clement sounded at a loss to explain the display having challenged his players to atone for the Queen’s Park defeat. Instead, Ibrox was emptying as early as the 70th minute, after Olusanya had put the visitors two goals in front.

“I didn’t see this one coming, this nervousness, everyone below par, almost all game,” the manager said afterwards. “There were a few better spells but by far we were not what Rangers should be.”

Clement admitted the ball was in the board’s court with regard to the issue of his future. It was put to him that the majority of Rangers fans now want him to leave. “Those are things the board needs to decide in the end,” he replied. “I believe these players want to do the right things, I believe I can get results with these players. But I am also very disappointed with what we showed today, and I am responsible for that.”

The manager agreed with a contention that the seemingly endless cycle of sporadic good performances amid many more poor ones is not acceptable at Rangers. “That’s true and that’s what Patrick (Stewart) also said,” replied Clement, with reference to an interview the Ibrox chief executive gave to the club’s TV channel a few days earlier. “He also said we need to look at the root of the problems. Today was by far not the performance that we have seen in the past. It was by far the worst performance from my time here.”

The Belgian tried to make sense of it but failed. “It’s terribly disappointing, because we were so nervous, on the ball, in the duels, in everything,” he said. "I don’t know where it’s coming from. That’s my frustration and it’s also my responsibility to put a team on the pitch with the right mindset.”

He was asked about the fans leaving in their droves midway through the second half. “Of course. I understand,” he said. “We were by far the worst I’ve seen in all the time I’ve been here.

“I understand fans don’t want to see that level. It’s about standing up as a team and showing more quality. It’s about finding out where this nervousness came from.”

He was asked whether the disillusioned home supporters had transferred their own anxiety onto the players. “The fans cannot be a reason (for the nervousness) because that is part of being a player here,” he said. “That is part of working here. You know from the performance against Queen’s Park. There are no excuses. If you want to be a Rangers player you need to cope with these things. It’s my job as Rangers manager to prepare players to cope with those things.”

Clement reiterated it was his responsibility to win back the fans, starting this midweek against Kilmarnock at Rugby Park. Rangers return to Ibrox next Saturday against Motherwell. They remain 13 points behind leaders Celtic having failed to take advantage of their rivals’ defeat earlier in the day against Hibs.