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7 Philippe Clement Rangers presser takeaways as he defends James Tavernier and understands fan fury

Philippe Clement has defended James Tavernier after the fallout from Rangers' 3-0 defeat to Celtic at Parkhead.

The club captain bore the brunt of the fan furore following their derby loss and was subjected to abuse outside Ibrox by particularly raging punters who branded him a "loser". Clement was also criticised by some supporters and understands how his skipper felt in the moment as he opened up on the reaction.

The Belgian also discussed various other topics including his side's return to their home after weeks playing at Hampden Park as well as Danilo and Ianis Hagi's situations at the club. Football Scotland picked out some of the key points from Clement's presser.

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Tavernier backing

"In moments the team does not perform, the captain is always the first one that fans point to.

"If you're captain you are a symbol of the team. I was at Brugge for 10 years and captain like Tav. I had these moments and it's part of being captain. He is very motivated. We can understand the disappointment after an [Old Firm defeat].

"I have to say he is very mature and motivated to get results.

"It's easy to be captain in the moments when everything is going well. The real captains are the ones who keep you moving forward in difficult moments. That is what Tav has been doing, driving forward the team and helping the new guys with their integration. It's a thing of society. It's not only a Rangers thing, it's in society. It's all over the world like that. The captain and the manager are the symbols of that and they get the most stick in those moments. So that's part of our job and our life. Not only here. In a lot of teams in the world. Is it a nice thing? Is it a good thing? Is it a thing you love? No, totally not. But it's a world we live in."

No bids for skipper

"I don't know what is real about all these rumours but there were no offers in the club. He's been for sure the player in Scotland all all my career who has made so many transfers already without anything happening. In eight months I've never seen a player make so many transfers because I read so many times that he was gonna go there and there. He's still here and he's never come to my office and said he wanted to go, and I never an offer towards the club."

Do you feel you have fan backing?

"For sure, 100 per cent."

Backing from the board

"We talked about everything. About the stadium, about the Celtic game, about where we are as a team now. It's the same support as the weeks before. The board knows it's the beginning of a totally new story. They understand that there are so many new players and so many players left and so many young players coming in who we need to grow in their potential."

Reacting to fan anger outside Ibrox

“It’s never a nice moment to lose against your rivals and for sure not with the 3-0, so I understand the frustration.

“We had the same frustration and the anger inside of us so in a way, you understand things but in another way, it depends on what words are used in that way.

“So that happened in the heat of the moment that night. I’ve been now ten to twelve days longer in Glasgow after it and I met a lot of fans who reacted in a totally different way and were very positive and supportive about the team and club.

“So it’s in the heat of the moment. It’s not things that you like or love but it happened."

Danilo injury and keeping him out of Euro squad

"Dani was an unlucky one, he did a sprint and slipped in a really bad way. We first thought it would be cruciate ligament to be honest. The feeling we had and the way he fell down it was a typical slip to tear your cruciate. Luckily it's not the case, it's his medial ligament and the doctor said he was really lucky because of all the exercises he did before. His knee was so strong that it compensated. But he'll be out at least four weeks.

"Why he's not in the European list? We know he's out for the first game but also with the history of before I want to bring him back in a good way with league games. He's not ready for European games. He's ready for some minutes, was happy to score vs Ross County, but he's not ready for Europe. The plan is to bring him back in league and cup games and then we can see after January he'll be at his normal level again."

Ianis Hagi situation

"I said the things already the last times. The situation didn't change. It's not only my decision in that way. So we will see what the future will bring here. Do I see it changing? No, I just said the situation didn't change for the moment, so there's no reason to go further into that."