James Tavernier on Philippe Clement's Rangers future, fan anger and personal frustration

James Tavernier insists Rangers players aren't just fighting to save Philippe Clement's job but are battling for their own futures at Ibrox.

With Gers a shocking nine points adrift of Aberdeen and Celtic, a defeat in Sunday's Premier Sports Cup semi-final to Motherwell would surely make Clement's position untenable. Fans and former striker Kris Boyd are already calling for the under-fire Belgian to be sacked in the wake of a miserable start to the season.

Tavernier - in his testimonial year at Rangers - knows better than most that Gers aren't coming close to reaching the standards that fans demand. And when asked if the club should stick with the manager in the event of a Hampden upset, Tavernier said: "Our aim is to win on the weekend. We're not thinking any other way, as a team. We're not going into this weekend thinking about not winning the game. Our focus is on getting into a final, that's all we're thinking about."

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The skipper also delivered a diplomatic answer when pressed on whether the crestfallen squad are fighting for the manager's future. He said: "I think everyone plays for everyone's future in every single game. You start the season off, you have ambitions, you have targets where you want to be.

"You're training every single day to get to those targets and you're playing every single game to get to those targets, so you're always playing for a future. At a club like Rangers, you have to win things and that's the demand that this club has and us as a team have to back that up."

The travelling support at Pittodrie made their feelings abundantly clear at full-time as they jeered Clement's flops off the park. It's been a common theme this term, especially away from home, but Tavernier insists he's doing everything in his power to make things right.

He added: "I totally understand their frustration because all they want to see is us win games. There's frustration among ourselves. We never want to go to a place and drop any points and obviously lose games, so you can understand the frustration.

"But me as a captain and me as a squad player for Rangers, I'm doing everything possible in my power and I know all the players in the dressing room are going to be doing everything in their power to put in the performances and the results that the fans will be proud of. So we've got to continuously work hard every day and obviously we can do all the talking we want, but we've got to do the talking on the pitch."