Rangers duo stand accused amid psychodrama and mindless optimism - 'I know what project I started'

When James Tavernier joined Rangers nearly a decade ago, Philippe Clement was assistant manager at Club Brugge in the Belgian top flight.

Their fates are now intertwined. Both stand accused. Their Ibrox experiences – relatively brief in the case of Clement, long to the extent that Tavernier is awaiting confirmation of a testimonial – have soured, for the time being at least.

What happens in the near future, perhaps the next 90 or 120 minutes, might shape how they are remembered at Ibrox.

Some claim Clement is not the manager he was supposed to be while many - including a lot of the same people - are angry at Tavernier for not being the player he once was. He is the skipper weighed down by failure rather than decorated with winners’ medals; just three at the last count.

Rangers captain James Tavernier and manager Philippe Clement suffered more pain at Aberdeen. | SNS Group

The full-back has seen many managers arrive and then exit and there was an air of going-through-the-motions as he sat and issued a defence of Clement on Friday. We'd been here before. 

Crucially, though, Tavernier had also to answer questions about his own form, days after his part in Aberdeen’s winner on a traumatic night for Rangers at Pittodrie. 

Slightly cruelly since it was the day after his 33rd birthday (which went unremarked by Rangers on social media), his record as Ibrox skipper was also up for debate. Many players would relish being able to boast about a full set of major honours. But when it's just one of each and you're the captain of Rangers, that's nothing to write home about. “If you look over the years, I can obviously say I’d love more trophies, more medals,” Tavernier replied, when questioned on this. “Obviously that is not the case. I cannot change the past. I can concentrate on what’s ahead and what I do today. I just try to lead by example.”

As for his own form, he said he felt it had been “pretty good” this season. He added: “Obviously there’s been a bit of a dry spell in goals (he has scored just once). But I have also tried to create as many chances as possible and try to reduce as much as we can going against our goal.” He said he still felt he can play 60 games a season.

It all sounded reasonable enough and yet you could still imagine plenty of Rangers fans scoffing. These are febrile times at a club where the headlines should all be about the horrifying net loss of £17 million revealed in the annual accounts earlier this week. Although not unconnected, the focus is on another shortfall. After that 2-1 loss to Aberdeen in midweek, Rangers are now nine points adrift of Celtic and the Pittodrie side at the top of the Premiership. It’s almost as if the impossible job of cutting costs while remaining title challengers is proving an impossible job.

Friday marked a year since Clement’s tenure appeared to gain lift off with a 5-0 win over Dundee in a pyro-interrupted game at Dens Park. It has little to do with the Belgian, but perhaps a more relevant anniversary is the last time Rangers played a Champions League group game. That was against Ajax, two years ago on Friday. Giovanni van Bronckhorst was sacked the following week.

Tavernier and the Gers take on Motherwell. | SNS Group

In a way, this weekend’s League Cup semi-final against Motherwell should provide Clement with some relief but it’s being cast as the cup final before the cup final – assuming Rangers can get there – by many observers. A home from home for Rangers earlier this season, Hampden promises to provide little sanctuary tomorrow against Stuart Kettlewell's side. Adding to their problems is news that winger Ross McCausland, replaced at half time against Aberdeen, is a doubt.

Rangers' last but one League Cup tie was played at Hampden – a 2-0 win over St Johnstone in August, when Ibrox was still out of bounds due to delayed renovation work. Clement and his players attracted comment after celebrating with supporters behind the goal following this rather ho-hum last 16 victory.

These scenes drew ridicule from some quarters but perhaps Clement was right to celebrate when he could. Since then, four losses in 12 games have placed renewed scrutiny on the manager’s position and meant Friday press conference, attended by both him and Tavernier, felt like a psychodrama.

Just six months into his 50s, it's hard to describe Clement as drawn since he's always looked thin and trim. He is clearly working all the hours he physically can to get Rangers back on track. He can do little more on that front, which might worry fans more than comfort them.

"I know what project I started in June,” said Clement, when asked if he still felt secure in his position. “It was another project than I started in October. Those things were less clear. We had this talk in June that it was a really big challenge. That is also why there were negotiations about the (new) contract and what to do, from both sides.

Rangers need to lift themselves at Hampden once more. | SNS Group

“We're going to continue working on that. Of course, I believe in all these people because it was all brought together. It was not only one person. It was all brought together going for this story because the story from before was not sustainable. They didn't want to go back to 2012 when the club was bankrupt. So there had to be a major turnaround in every sense. There had to be young players coming in, there had to be a big cut of wages in the squad, there had to be a lot of transfers. 

“We maybe wanted more as a club in outgoing transfers, getting more money in to use that in the transfer market. That was not possible in the end. So the club knows where it (income) is coming from. It's now the start of a better period. You don't see it in results now, yes, that's true. It's totally true. But there is a foundation now being built for the future, for a more healthy club to grow out of that. Everybody knew it was not possible in one transfer window.”

It wasn’t sold as a(nother) transitional season in the summer but maybe that’s what it has to be. When Clement stressed in August, shortly after signing a contract extension, that it might take a few months before fans saw significant improvement – “October, November, December,” he mused – such a dire projection raised eyebrows. Now it sounds like mindless optimism. 

James Tavernier was promoting Premier Sports’ live and exclusive coverage of Motherwell v Rangers on Sunday from 2.30pm on Premier Sports 1. Premier Sports is available to stream from premiersports.com or via your TV provider on Sky, Virgin TV and Amazon Prime as an add-on subscription.