A manager receiving public backing from his board isn’t always a welcome thing. In fact, it is often a portent of doom for an under-pressure coach.

Whether that is the case when it comes to Philippe Clement, time will tell. The Belgian received the dreaded vote of confidence from new Rangers CEO Patrick Stewart on Saturday, though as these things go, his words were rather on the equivocal side.

Clement’s call for unity after the win over St Johnstone on Sunday at a fractious Ibrox seems as far-fetched as the prospect of him standing in the Ibrox dugout come the first day of next season, but at least there is solid backing for the manager from within his dressing room.

As the Rangers support know all too well, though, words are one thing, while action is quite another.

Still, while players are highly unlikely to slate their manager when asked if they are behind him during difficult times, they can often skirt around the issue or offer mealy-mouthed platitudes. When it fell to Mohamed Diomande to answer it, the Rangers midfielder’s response was emphatic, and offered without hesitation.

"He is all of us together,” Diomande said.

“He brought me in, and I trust him, and I'm sure other players also do.

"They trust his tactics and what he wants to bring to the club, and we just need to deliver what he shows us in training, and you need to deliver it on the pitch for him also to get the maximum points we all want and to achieve our goals.”

(Image: Andrew Milligan - PA) While Clement is unlikely to be completely reassured by Stewart’s backing, Diomande did say that the CEO’s gesture did have a settling effect on the squad.

"It's good,” he said.

“We are all trying to do our best, and we are all learning from each other.

“We listen to him, and we try to improve together as a team. I've known him [before I came to Rangers], and he brought me in, and I try to learn from him each day.

“I'm just trying to be the best I can be, and to learn from him or the assistant, also, also my teammates."

Read more:

• 'What pressure?': Clement knew he had Rangers board backing

• Rangers 3 St Johnstone 1: Fan unrest the backdrop as Ibrox shows its discontent

• Rangers' away day blues can only boil down to weak mentality after Celtic blitz

If questions on the manager delivered a direct response from Diomande, his handling of queries on how the unrest in the Ibrox stands and the walkout by the Union Bears and the Rangers Supporters Association affected the men in blue were danced around as nimbly as the St Johnstone midfield.

"I didn't really notice anything because I was focused,” he said.

“I didn't really see what was going around, but I could hear a lot of noise, and the noise was like the support they've been giving.

"So, I felt they were supporting us, and I didn't really know what was going on. I just played my game and also with my teammates to help them.

"I mean, we just want to win the games, and, winning the games is going to make them happy, because that's what the club is about.

"And I think they have been backing us up. And like I said, I felt like they did [on Sunday] also."

Whether Diomande has noticed it or not, that support seemed to slip into apathetic indifference for many on Sunday amid the sporadic outbursts of protest.

Perhaps more worryingly, though, it seemed to spill into anger among the away support at Dens Park last Thursday night, who have had their fill of the dreadful results their team have posted when not playing at Ibrox this season.

To have won just three of their 11 league matches on the road is a damning statistic, and Diomande says that finding a solution to their away day woes it is the number one priority every day at their Auchenhowie training base.

"It has been difficult away,” he said.

"We've not been good at getting the points we wanted, but we are really working hard in training to try and find out why we can't win games away.

(Image: Andrew Milligan - PA) “And I think we are getting there slowly to get the points we all want.

"We need to be able to break teams down when they sit down with 11 players behind and we are really working on that."

If they are going to improve on their travels, then they need more from the likes of Diomande, who showed with his goal against St Johnstone that he does possess a willingness to get into the danger area and a nose for sniffing out an opportunity.

"I really want to keep on doing that,” he said.

“I want to make the difference also when I get up higher on the pitch and I want to score the goals, give the assist, and I think that's something I'm working on a training and I hope it continues.

“I've had good games [this season], and also not good games, but I'm happy that I was back on the score sheet and I want to continue doing that like I said.

“I always want to be on the ball. I want to build the team up, and also get in the box in and score goals.”