Ex-Rangers icon issues Celtic ultimatum to Philippe Clement amid 'fuming fans' claim

Ex-Rangers hero Paul Gascoigne has told head coach Philippe Clement he must find a way to win against Celtic in order to relieve fan pressure at Ibrox.

The iconic former midfielder won two Scottish titles with Rangers in the mid 90s but believes the current Rangers face a real challenge to wrestle the title back from their Glasgow rivals and fully sympathises with fan discontent at Ibrox, with the club languishing behind Celtic and Aberdeen in third.

“I’m lucky enough that I played in 11 [Old Firms], unbeaten in 11 and scored a few goals,” recalled Gascoigne. “The atmosphere there is phenomenal. Every time I hear ‘Simply The Best’, it's just unbelievable. Even in the Lazio-Roma derby with 105,000 fans, it didn’t phase me. But in the first derby, the hairs on the back of my neck stood up and I was like, ‘wow, this is unbelievable’.

Rangers will only relieve fan pressure by beating Celtic, believes Paul Gascoigne. | Getty Images

“I remember my first game for Rangers, I jogged a little bit and then one fan, an older guy, he screamed at the side of the pitch, ‘hey, start running about, work for a living. You're not on holiday now.’ I was like, wow, this is what it must be like to play for Rangers, you are expected to win every single game like 4 or 5-0.”

While Rangers have managed to put together a run of five wins from their last six games in all competitions, the 57-year-old believes the pressure will continue on Rangers’ Belgian boss until he wins an Old Firm - something he has failed to do in five attempts.

Paul Gascoigne celebrates for Rangers at Celtic Park. | SNS Group 0141 221 3602

“The Rangers fans are fuming at the minute,” said the ex-Rangers star. “You’ve got to keep the fans happy. Even though they won their last match they were still terrible, you know? Obviously being third and Celtic being top isn’t good. That rivalry is horrendous. And then you realise you've got to play each other four times. Then if you get them in the cup, that's five. Scottish cup, that's six.”

In an interview with SportsCasting UK, Gascoigne added: “When I played, I never really looked at the league table. As long as we won, we were okay. I remember we won the league once and we won it because we beat Celtic. That's what you've got to do. If we hadn't beat them, they could have won the league. But that's what he needs to do then really, doesn't he? The manager, he needs to make sure they beat Celtic.”