Clement is convinced he retains full backing of Rangers board despite Queen's Park debacle … and admits he was 'hurt' by verbal abuse from fan

Philippe Clement is convinced he retains the full backing of the Rangers board despite presiding over one of the worst results in the club’s history.

Already 13 points behind Celtic in the Premiership and having failed to win the League Cup, last Sunday’s Ibrox humiliation at the hands of Queen’s Park in the Scottish Cup was the final straw in the eyes of many supporters.

Despite being told a month earlier that the vote of confidence given to him by chief executive Patrick Stewart was conditional on results improving, the Belgian survived the monumental upset and will take charge of the side at Tynecastle on Sunday.

Insistent his discussions with Stewart after the shock loss were no different to any other week, Clement claimed he has no reason to believe that his job is under threat.

‘I’m in contact with Patrick. We had a talk about the game, after the game, like we always do,’ he said.

‘And it was in the same way as before. And, of course, I was also frustrated, devastated after the result.

Chief executive Patrick Stewart spoke with the Rangers manager after Queen’s Park defeat

Scottish Cup defeat to Queen’s Park was one of the worst in the Ibrox club’s history

‘I know we didn’t want to go out of the cup. I didn’t have any other signal of no backing. And that’s the case in football as a manager.

‘So, I’m going forward to get the results that we want and also to continue making the development of all the players.’

Clement was asked if there had been any communication from either Stewart or the board specifically relating to his position in the wake of such a catastrophic loss.

‘Not one manager in the world has guarantees,’ he replied. ‘Maybe (Pep) Guardiola in Man City, but he deserves it after all the things he did in a long spell there. So, that’s part of football.

‘But we spoke about the game and that the result didn’t reflect the game. But, of course, we need to react and that’s the most important thing after a defeat, an unacceptable defeat, going out of the cup where we’re all devastated and we’re all sick about it.

‘And that’s been the case the first days of the week. For everybody, all of us, you need to react now. That’s the important thing.’

Footage emerged on social media on Monday of Clement being verbally abused by a supporter as he left the stadium to go to his car.

Asked if he felt a line had been crossed, he said: ‘It hurts, of course, and I told you guys also in the good moments here, the thing why I like this job is to do things with people together.

James Tavernier reacts with horror after his late penalty was saved at Ibrox last Sunday

Clement looked like a broken man after defeat but insists team must now react against Hearts

‘We had already some amazing moments of synergy with the fans, good moments, great moments, amazing evenings at Ibrox, European games away, winning a trophy together. So, those are the good moments. This was clearly a bad moment.

‘And, of course, I saw the video also. I didn’t look at the people who were making the video, but in the press comes also that moment when somebody’s shouting at you.

‘At that moment, there were also a lot of young children still asking for an autograph. And, because of that, I stopped also for them.

‘So, it’s a lot of things in the same moment. I understand the frustration of people.

‘I’m here. I want to fight for this club. I want to get the results that we had the week before to continue to develop this team and to make it better and not to get results like that (Queen’s Park) again. It doesn’t mean that moment doesn’t hurt.’