Clement reeling from injury blows but makes Rangers selection vow

Can you give us an update on the squad?

It Wednesday in the training, there was a duel, a player fell on Connor on his knee and he hurt his knee bad. He tried to continue but couldn’t. We made a scan and we see he has a tear in his medial ligament so he will be out for the rest of the season.

How big a blow is that?

It is of course a blow. He played 48 games this season so he has been important. Played a lot of good games, he is one of the leaders in the team also and he took that role really well. That was also the first thing that he told me and said to me that he wanted to be in the dressing room in the next couple of games. Although he cannot play, he wants to be there for the boys and to support them. That is already a positive thing from his side and shows also the commitment he has towards this group and this club. Of course it is unlucky to lose him now but it has been the story of the season. When players get injuries it is about others to show their quality and step up like they did until now.

Do you have title winners in their dressing room and leaders who can step up?

We have enough leaders, I am sure about that. Be clear about that. You become also a leader by getting experiences, getting things like now. It is true that not many were in a title race before but maybe other players were a lot, like I had in the past with some players. They were leaders because of that, being in a title race four, five times. There were other players who took leadership. I think we have enough of those in the group and I feel a lot of hunger in the team also to keep on chasing what we have been doing almost all year. One moment we were shortly above but the rest we have been chasing because from October it was seven or eight points. We are still the team who took the most points in that period and we will keep on focusing on ourselves and trying to get the three points every time. What is of course a challenge in these play-offs it is about the best teams playing against each other so there is more chance of losing points. Kilmarnock has a good track record, they won this season three [games against] the Old Firm, two against Celtic, one against Rangers. We won two good games because we did the right things. They had one draw also against Celtic. Every game will be tight. We saw it in St Mirren, we saw it in Dundee. It was not a big difference. Was not a big difference. We both took the points. I think if you look at the stats that we were further to get three points than Celtic was in the two games. It will be like this every game until the end, that is the nice thing playing the best teams against each other and all respect also to all the teams in the top six, they deserve to be there also.

Have Ridvan Yilmaz and Ryan Jack started training this week?

That has been the case.

Are they available for the weekend?

We need to see tomorrow. Ridvan maybe, Ryan not yet. He is too far away for that, he needs to have a few trainings to be available for the squad. He will need more time than Ridvan but that is normal also because Ridvan has been a long time out but less long than Ryan.

Do you have a timescale on Connor for next season?

In pre-season he will be back and he told me also he is happy about that because last season he missed almost all pre-season. It has already been a miracle that he played as many games and was fit for so much time. This injury was really bad luck, in a duel, falling down with two players and somebody falling on your knee. It can happen. That is really bad luck.

There have been reports about Borna Barisic signing a deal in Turkey – is there anything you can say on that?

There have been reports for months about a lot of players and a lot of things. As long as nothing is official and I see the right things in the training and the dressing room, players are selectable. Borna will be in the selection from what I have seen until now. If he steps into the building tomorrow with another mindset that is something else. I don’t believe so. I see somebody who is serving this club already a long time and is really hungry for more titles and more trophies.

There have been similar reports about John Lundstram…

There is nothing official around that. I am not naïve, the longer that things last the more possibility that other people step in. I see Lunny every day the same way that he was two months ago, three months ago, five months ago. He is fighting for the club. All these players are busy with winning trophies and doing the right things together. Otherwise they would not be in the selection.

As the games run down, do you have to keep the belief that you can overtake Celtic?

Of course. As long as it's mathematically possible, of course, it's possible and there are much bigger surprises that have happened in the past, not only in title races but in all kinds of games. You can be three points behind in the last five minutes of the last game and it can change. We need to focus on one thing and that's ourselves and take as many points as possible, that's the thing that you need to do. That's the only thing you can control so we're going to focus on that.

Do you have a timescale on Abdallah Sima's return?

No, not yet. Abda is out now individually training and I hope to see him back before the end of the season but no timescale yet.

Rabbi Matondo?

Same thing for him. Oscar Cortes and Danilo, both of them won't be possible [of returning] this season.

How influential can Goldson be off the pitch?

It's still an important thing, it's the same with the staff and the same with me. We cannot be on the pitch to give the decisive ball or to score the goal or to make the tackle but you can say the right things. You can help people in their motivation, in their calmness, whatever they need at that moment and he's part of this group. I think it's also a good sign that somebody wants to be there for the team.

Do you think the game would be better without VAR?

No, totally not. I think last week or this week there was the report about VAR, if you see the moments that VAR made a mistake that Rangers was most involved. There have been more mistakes against us this season but it doesn't cease my idea, totally not. I think there will always be a grey zone in decision-making. There will always be some subjectivity but because of VAR there are less mistakes made than in the past. Nobody can deny that but in moments it kills your excitement when you score a goal and you need to wait but I prefer that than to have three, five or ten more bad decisions during a season. I want, as much as possible, an honest game and the right decisions. It will never be perfect because it will be decided by human beings who need to make a decision and then also some rules are not totally objective. It's impossible to make everything totally objective. For example, the handball rule is something to discuss but I think VAR has made the game more honest so I will never be against it although we are the most disadvantaged team this season, clearly. But still my decision stays the same and I think everybody needs to see it that way. I think if you stop with VAR then after a few months everybody will say, 'The referee missed that? How is that possible?' With VAR they would have seen it and it was clearly a goal or a red card or whatever so you then have the opposite side again. I'm totally pro-VAR but I think it's important to keep on working on it. We need to work with the players on making things better, to make a better product, to make it more clear towards managers, players and fans with decision-making and then more people will be pro-VAR.

Were you pleased to see Jack Butland and James Tavernier nominated for the PFA Player of the Year award and Ross McCausland for the young player?

For sure because they were booed off the pitch six months ago, a few times. The club was not in the right place so it's also proved there has been a good evolution made in the club. I see that Ross McCausland, last season, trained five times the whole season with the first squad and he's now nominated for that prize. That's a really positive thing for all the Academy and everybody who worked closely in the youth teams and the first team with Ross and Ross himself for the way he's worked all this time. For the other players also, you can only be nominated if your team is doing the right things. It's a collective sport so it means, at Rangers, something has went well. Not everything yet, we know and we're working hard on that to make it better and better and better and to make it more consistent. I think it's been quite consistent, pity we had this one week where we lost points we didn't have to lose but now it's about looking forward.

Do you watch a rival team or do you go away and distract yourself?

Depends what the programme is at the moment, do I have work to do or other things to do? Does my wife want something to do? Sometimes I need to listen to her also ton stay married because I work a lot. There are moments that both things are filled in and I can watch the game. I don't know yet what I'm going to do on Saturday, we will see.