'What pressure?': Philippe Clement says he already knew Rangers were behind him
Philippe Clement says that he didn’t need the public backing he received this weekend from Rangers chief executive Patrick Stewart, as he didn’t feel under pressure and he already knew that the club were behind him.
The win over St Johnstone at Ibrox was as notable for what took place off the field as it was for the action on the pitch, with protests over the running of the club and a mass walkout from the Union Bears fan group and the Rangers Supporters Association taking place on the 55th minute.
The Rangers manager admits that Stewart’s appointment has helped him after feeling ‘alone in the desert’ at the club, but when asked if the public statement of support for his position on Saturday had relieved the pressure on his shoulders, Clement replied: “What pressure?
“No, the only pressure I have is that I'm not happy with the away results. That's my pressure.
“I told you guys, and maybe you still don't know me, but I want to win every game. That's my pressure. So if that's not the case, I'm not happy with things and I'm very ambitious to make things better. That's the only pressure I have.
“I know that [the club are behind me]. I know that, and I spoke with Patrick already a lot. He's not long in the building, but I'm very happy that he's here.
“I've been six, seven months sometimes feeling alone in the desert and addressing things to make better in the club, or that I saw things regressing because the situation - I feel - is very motivated to make things better.
“That will help me, that will help the football department, but it will help everything inside the club. So I'm happy that we can have really open and sometimes critical discussions about it.”
Clement conceded that the atmosphere within Ibrox was strange on the afternoon, and he called for the supporters to unite once more behind their team.
He also acknowledged though that they will only do so if they are given something to believe in on the pitch.
“It's a big difference in atmosphere with two weeks ago, in the Old Firm against Celtic, that's clear for everybody,” he said.
“But I'm focused on the team, I'm focused on getting the results, and I know also out of my experience here, if we play well, if we get the results, that the fans are always behind the team.
“I understand the frustration. I said it also after the Dundee game, I was also frustrated about that, that I didn't see what I wanted to see from the team. The team was also frustrated about that.
“The team wanted to repay that in the first half and they did. And you see also that a lot of fans, also with the frustration of the week, stand behind the team in that moment. It's about us on the pitch, getting more points and showing the football that we need to show.
“I want everybody to be united. Simple. You can see it as a positive that still a lot of people are behind everything. But I want to have everybody united. So, that's what I wanted last year when I came in, and it was also totally not the case at the moment.
“But it has to do with performance, and that's normal. We want consistency, I want consistency, and fans want consistency to get better results. And in that way, we have the consistency in the home games.
“We have now 31 points out of 33 [at home], I think. We have consistency in our European season, but we didn't have consistency away at home. So, those are things to work on with all the squads.”
