Vexed Philippe Clement addresses his Rangers future amid looming Celtic showdown and explains team calls
Philippe Clement is confident he will be allowed to carry on as Rangers manager despite recent faltering steps leaving the Ibrox side 14 points adrift of Celtic at the top.
The Belgian is fast losing credit with the support ahead of Thursday’s Old Firm clash but he asked whether it would be a different story with someone else in charge. He believes he retains the support of those in charge at Ibrox, despite new CEO Patrick Stewart and chairman Fraser Thornton only being in position for a fortnight. He conceded they might have to form their own view on things.
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Hide Ad"They made a really clear statement about that already in the beginning of the season and now also with the people involved," said Clement after Rangers lost further ground at the top following a 2-2 draw at Motherwell. "Do you think nothing has changed now? Do you think with another manager we would not have made mistakes today defensively? Was it a problem that the structure of the team was not good? So, those are things that a board needs to decide.”
Celtic can stretch their lead to 17 points with a win over their rivals at Ibrox. Clement is still looking for his first win over the Parkhead side - although that hardly seems the issue at hand when he is struggling to overcome teams like St Mirren and Motherwell.


Having lost in Paisley on Thursday, Rangers trailed 2-0 at the break against Motherwell in their final game of 2024. A double from substitute Hamza Igamane at least earned a point, although the Fir Park side had two goals ruled out in the second half. Motherwell manager Stuart Kettlewell was shown two yellow cards and was went to the stand as his frustration boiled over. He was particularly exercised about Andy Halliday's goal direct from a corner kick being ruled out after Tony Watt was adjudged to have impeded 'keeper Jack Butland. It would have put Motherwell 3-1 up.
Kettlewell pointed to a recent goal from Spurs' Son Heung-min against Manchester United that was allowed to stand in similar circumstances. "Down there, they play on, there's no over-protection of the goalkeeper, but for some reason today here, we've decided that there's enough to merit a free kick," he lamented.
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Hide AdThere were further pressing questions for Clement to answer afterwards, including why he left recent key players Vaclav Cerny and Igamane on the bench at the start. Both were introduced at half time as Clement sough to save the match and perhaps even his job. The manager suggested that he was again following the guidance of Ibrox medical staff.
Clement looked weary when asked about his team selection, with Ianis Hagi also absent from the starting XI. “It's really simple, guys,” he said. “It's really simple. Ianis was sick. Ianis was normally starting today. Leon Balogun is injured. Jefte played almost the same amount of games that he played last season until now. Ridvan (Yilmaz) played, for me, a good game in that position. Vaclav played already double the amount of minutes that he played last season. He was saying also that he was dead tired yesterday. The same with Hamza, who played almost the same amount of minutes as last season already in a short period.
"So, yes, I see also the difference when Vaclav and Hamza come in, in the second half, and they showed good quality. But I would be really a fool if I would have started with them and after 60 minutes they both would have been injured for one or two months. Then I would be a fool. So, in that way, yes, I listen to my staff. I listen to the players themselves also in that way.”


Clement sought to clarify his own comments suggesting Cerny had asked to be left out citing tiredness. “They don't come to say that they're too tired, but you see people, how they are,” the manager said. "We test them also in different ways with the staff. You need rotation. It's not possible (otherwise). There's not one team in the world playing with their attacking players every time 90 minutes, every three days, for three, four months in a row.
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Hide Ad“Would I have loved to have started today with Vaclav and Hamza? Of course, yes. But I need to be smart in that way also not to lose them for the next couple of months.”
Clement remains confident he has the backing of the board, where key positions have been filled in recent weeks. He is now worried about his own future. "I'm not concerned about that because I'm only busy with the team,” he said. “We knew before the season what project and what challenging project it would be. On that side, it's difficult to speak about that because you will not understand and people outside maybe will not understand. There has been an evolution made. The last two games not, for sure not. We have hurt ourselves in that way.
“But there were good games the last couple of weeks where the team showed the potential. In that way, there are already teams interested in some players for the future, which we didn't have the last two years. So, we're taking steps, but you cannot speak about that after losing points against St Mirren and Motherwell, I know.”
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