Philippe Clement refused to reach for excuses after Rangers’ dismal 1-0 defeat at Kilmarnock angered the fans and left them further behind in the William Hill Premiership title race.
League leaders Celtic and Aberdeen drew 2-2 at Parkhead on Saturday to offer his third-placed side some encouragement but Marley Watkins’ 87th minute strike on Killie’s artificial pitch pushed the Govan side six points behind both their title rivals.
At the start of the second half, some travelling fans unfurled banners which read, ‘the mismanagement of Rangers must stop and stop now’, after initial banners noted that the Ibrox club has no permanent chairman, chief executive officer, or director of football operations and claimed, ‘no clue’, while the ‘one scapegoat’ perhaps alluded to the fact that Gers fans had been urged by the club to stop using pyrotechnics after two UEFA fines.
The Light Blues fans also expressed their discontent at the full-time whistle and asked if the solving off-field issues may help, Clement said: “I don’t want to go into that because I don’t want excuses about pitches, winds, whatever.
“We need to focus on ourselves, on the players, on the new players coming in, to get them at their best level, focus on the players who were here, to get to their best level, and to play better than we did today.
“I was not pleased with that game in the first half. The second half was much better, but then you get this goal against.
“In the end, if you win this game, which was possible in the second half, and you scored the goal, you can have a totally different feeling.
“But we didn’t do enough to get that feeling, so we need to learn from that and be stronger on Thursday and the Sunday after, and the weeks to come.
“We have 30 games to go, so it’s always disappointing to lose points because we want to win all the games. So we’re focused on that.”
Asked about the fans’ unhappiness, the Belgian boss said: “It’s normal that they’re unhappy. There’s not one person on the staff or one player who was happy after this game, after losing.
“So that’s normal. The players showed respect towards the fans, the fans showed what they felt about the results, and that’s normal.
“So it’s about getting back the results, that’s the main thing , and then the fans get behind you.
“I think the anger has to do with a lot of things. So I will be focused on the sporting side to get the best out of this squad.
“We’re going to work really hard with this squad, and there is a lot of potential in this squad. Much more potential than people see maybe for the moment. So it’s about working hard with them and making them better.”
Derek McInnes’ side climbed to seventh with their first home win of the season and the Killie boss was pleased with the way his side kept going for the winner.
He said: “It illustrates fitness and the strength of squad.
“It also illustrates a lot of time and real determination. I don’t think any of my players at any point settled for 0-0. That wouldn’t have been the worst result. Getting a clean sheet and you would take positives from the performance.
“Still. I felt and still hoped it was a bit more on the bone for us. Thankfully, we managed to get that.
“I thought tactically we were good. But more important when you play Rangers and the Celtics, when they come here, it’s that mental part of it.
“I thought the mental strength of the team was good. They always felt there was something, a win there for us. Thankfully, we managed to see that through.”
