Philippe Clement reveals Rangers chairman resignation 'not his decision' as he rates response to Celtic defeat
What the Rangers manager said after the 1-0 win at Dundee United
Philippe Clement hailed his Rangers players for giving him the reaction he wanted from their Old Firm defeat in the 1-0 victory over Dundee United at Tannadice.
Rangers were forced to stew on the 3-0 reverse at Celtic Park over the international break but an early goal from Tam Lawrence eased some of the pressure that had been weighing heavily on the side over the past fortnight and closed the gap on the league leaders back to five points.
“It's the only reaction that I demand, that I expect," Clement said. "It was a difficult couple of weeks, yes, but that was that one result. And it was a really bad result. But it was a long time before we could get another game.
“I said it before this game, I would have preferred to play three days afterwards. But it was not the case. It was international week, so a lot of players left. So it's not easy to come then to Dundee and to play that way with a lot of players who are new in the building and a lot who have been away with national duty. So I'm really proud of the players, what they did today. And you saw already direct back the synergy with them and the fans. So that's a crucial thing also.”
The victory came just 24 hours after the resignation of chairman John Bennett with Clement revealing that the decision to step down was a reluctant one which was made for him by his doctor. John Gilligan has stepped in as interim chairman but the Rangers boss does not expect Bennett to be completely out of the picture.
“Yeah, that's not something that you want, of course," Clement said. " So I heard from John as probably one of the first to hear about that during the week. He explained everything to me. It's not his decision. It's a doctor's decision. So it's with a lot of pain in the heart that he had to make the decision. And I wish him all the best to recover as fast as possible. But he will not be away. He will be there at a distance, but he needs to keep a little bit of distance now to recover first."
Rangers are now without two major figureheads with the chief executive position also remaining vacant since the departure of James Bisgrove in April. Clement hinted that could change in the coming week.
“I think until now I've been the only one talking outside," he said. "So that doesn't change too much. Maybe it will change next week. We will see.
“I'm not the guy who brings in the cash or the money into the club. My job is to get the best out of the players who are who are in the building and to look for new ones together with recruitment team and to make the right decisions with the budget we have.
“That's my job to do and I will continue in that way. But I had also a lot of talks before with James and with John about strategic things for the future of the club and to make things better in the club, in everything, but also in Scottish football. So I think it will continue with the new people who step in.”
Clement handed a debut to substitute Nedim Bajrami, the £3.4m deadline day signing from Sassuolo, as a pre-planned half-time replacement for Oscar Cortes, while Hamza Igamane made his second appearance off the bench after coming on for his long-awaited debut against Celtic. The Rangers manager was happy with the contribution of both.
“Nedim is just in the building," Clement added. "So he had two short sessions with the team. Like I say, he doesn't even know all the names of his teammates. So he's just here. But we know what kind of player he is, what he can do for the team. He showed some things, but he can show much more still in the future. And Hamza, like I said, when we signed him, it's a big talent.
“We had to do it now because if it would have been one year later, we could never afford that kind of players. He's coming straight out of a Moroccan competition, Moroccan culture. Everything is new for him. He was also injured when he came.
“So it took time to get him more fit. And that's what we're going to do the next weeks and the next months, to give him opportunities to grow as a young player. But you see already a lot of good basic qualities.”
Dundee United boss Jim Goodwin bemoaned his side’s slow start to the game which allowed Lawrence to waltz through the middle of the defence unchallenged to score what proved to be the winner after just seven minutes.
“Obviously we didn’t start the game well,” he said. “The shape of the team wasn’t working early on. I think that’s where the goal ultimately comes from.
“We were a little bit bare in the middle of the pitch. The frustrating thing is that it actually comes from our throw-in initially.
“We need to make a tackle at some point, whether it’s a cynical foul or something like that to prevent Lawrence from entering into the penalty box. That’s the disappointment.
“Whenever you play against Celtic or Rangers, you always speak about the first 15 minutes and staying in the game.
“We gave ourselves a bit of a mountain to climb from that moment onwards.”
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