Ibrox chief executive Patrick Stewart has revealed that Philippe Clement retains the full backing of the Rangers board.
Stewart maintained that changing a manager is not a ‘silver bullet.’
Clement said in the aftermath of the draw with Dundee on Thursday night that the Rangers board were “200%” behind him. His side are now 18 points off off Celtic – who won earlier this afternoon on Dingwall ahead of Rangers’ game against St Johnstone at Ibrox tomorrow afternoon.
Rangers supporter groups have called for Clement to be removed from his position with some urging protests outside the ground this afternoon.Stewart has said that the decision to stick with their manager was not “financially driven.”
“I need to make some tough decisions, it comes with the role, but I am committed to making the right ones for Rangers, not just the popular ones,” he said.
“Cutting to the chase, we are backing Philippe at this time as a board.
“It’s about taking a deeper look at the issues, addressing those problems, and staying focused on building a stronger future for the club.
“Changing a manager isn’t a silver-bullet solution.
“What I do need to do, and what the board are supporting me with, is uncovering the underlying issues and addressing those.
“Because there’s been several years where we’ve been underperforming, and there’s something deeper rooted here, and I agree with that.
“So I think that’s what we need to do, we need to look beneath the surface. Managers and coaching staff will continue to come and go in the future, that’s understood. Again, that is football.
“But what I’m looking to do, again, this is a team effort, is build a solid foundation and a real long-term football plan for the club.”
And Stewart insisted that changing the manager cannot be a long-term strategy as Rangers look to rebuild the club.
“If we rush and react every time there’s some poor results, we’re in danger of just being back in the same place in a year’s time or 18 months’ time or however long,” said Stewart.
“But I want to be clear, look, I’m not saying everything is fine, and I think the fans are frustrated, I get that.
“And particularly if I look at the away results, you know, the record is there, it’s been discussed, it’s not good, and it’s not what’s expected for Rangers.
“So we are working with Philippe to address consistency issues, and I’m also not going to speculate on what happens if results don’t improve.
“I spent a lot of time with Philippe, a lot of time at Auchenhowie, I was with Philippe last night, and we discussed the need, the imperative for results to improve.
“If results don’t improve, obviously I can’t give Philippe any cast-iron guarantees. He and I have both been around football long enough to know that isn’t the case.
“Equally, I’m not going to get into how many games does Philippe have to save his job, that’s not what we’re about.
“We’re about helping Philippe to identify why is there the inconsistency and let’s address that. And again, to be clear, sticking with Philippe isn’t about trying to avoid a tough decision.
“In fact, I think if anything, changing a manager would be the easy decision, because a lot of supporters are calling for that. I’m aware of that, I’ve seen the statements.
“But I think that would be easy and I’m looking at this from a long-term perspective and thinking what’s in the best interests of the club. So, I’m putting the club first, not my own interests and whether this decision is going to be viewed as positive or negative.”
Explaining his “root and branch” review, the former interim CEO at Manchester United said: “Everything is in scope and it starts on Monday.
“Because I think if we’re honest with ourselves as a club, and honest to the supporters, if we look at everything in its entirety, the football club has not been where it wants to be for several years now.
“So, we’re going to review everything that we’re doing at (Rangers training complex) Auchenhowie and we’re going to look at it from a number of different angles.
“So, we want to ensure that we’ve got structures in place to succeed. Every decision that we make needs to be focused on one goal, which is bringing success to Rangers and making our supporters proud.”
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