Clement backs Rangers captain James Tavernier and Bajrami

How has the international break been for you?

It’s always a strange period because you lose so many players. On the other side, we could work with the ones who were here. So, they had quick training sessions with several ones coming out of injury. Also, people who are new in the building, like Nana, so we can work with them. We had a good friendly game with Motherwell also last week. So, we will use the time optimal with all the players who are here. And then you're hoping that nothing happens with your internationals. It looks the case. Ross got a knock, but I don't think it will be a problem towards Sunday.

Has Nedim trained with the team?

Nadim trained with the team for the first time today. He signed, the day after he was at the game and then he was with the national team. It was for him his first minutes with the squad.

Is he in contention for Sunday?

It doesn't help, of course, if you don't know even the names of your teammates when you need to start the game. He's just in the building. But we will see. It depends on the circumstances also. So, I will make the decision after the training tomorrow. 

How is the squad looking?

Oscar is in a really positive way. So, he played 60 minutes against Motherwell. And you see him week by week growing to the level that he was before. And that we know what is a good level. So, that's very positive. Same with Hamza Igamane, who's shown a lot of good things in training. So, they're progressing well. For the injured players, Ridvan is still out. But he's starting to do individual work outside. And Danilo and Rabbi Matondo, they're out.

What was your reaction to the scenes outside Ibrox after the Celtic game?

It is already a long time ago. It is never a nice moment to lose against your rivals and for sure not with a 3-0. I understand the frustration. We had the same frustration and the anger inside of us. In a way you understand things, in another way it depends what words are used in that way. That happened in that moment in the heat of the night or the afternoon. I have been now ten, 12 days in Glasgow after also and I have met a lot of fans who reacted in a totally different way and were very positive in supporting the team and the club. It is in the heat of the moment, it is not that you like or love but it happened.

Do you still have the trust of the supporters?

For sure. 100 per cent. Yeah.

What is your message to Rangers supporters?

I don’t know how many times I need to repeat the message. I don’t want that you guys get bored. We spoke about the end of a cycle last year. 16 players left the club so I think the average age of the players that left is 28 and we brought 11 new players in. Average age is around 23. That is a big difference. You need time to work with the boys. Football is not putting 11 players on the pitch, giving them the ball and just do something. You need to work on a lot of things, you need to get connections on the field and the way of playing football, the timings, where to run, how to run, how to play a ball, where to play a ball. There are a lot of things to be done and that needs time. We are working hard on that with the whole group. I see a young, energetic group with a lot of young players with a lot of hunger, with a lot of potential also. I am very positive about the story with them and to work with them to make them better and to grow as a team. The team has shown good things in moments and the team also had difficult things in moments the last couple of weeks. It is now about turning it fast to a lot of positives and make as least mistakes as possible.

Can you use this as a reset?

No because it had to be a reset also if we played three days after the Celtic game and I would have preferred that to be honest. It is now a long time and you lose a lot of players who are out with the national team having a totally different story and then they need to come back here with another way of playing. Sometimes they forget also things along the way. That is normal with the international break, that is what every manager has in the world so that is nothing new. I would have preferred to play three days after. I would have preferred emotionally the day after but you need also to give some recovery so three days after would have been ideal. It was not the case. Now it is focusing on the next game. There are 34 more games to play in the league, we have two cup competitions, we have a lot of games in Europe for sure and I hope more so there are a lot of challenges the next couple of months and a lot of interesting games. It is again what the team did and what we spoke about last season, to focus on the next game. That is the important one.

Were you taken aback by the level of anger and abuse directed at you and the players?

I know there is a lot of frustration and I think the stadium bit created a lot. There was a lot of negativity about that. I am really happy with the news that we can go back to Ibrox and everyone can feel home again. It was a really big thing and it is a normal thing. It was like being put out of your house when you cannot do anything about it, that was the feeling the fans had. It was a difficult one. Now the most important thing is to go back to Ibrox and focus on the results and the way of playing and making the story better and better with the team.

How has James Tavernier been since the Old Firm game?

Very mature. We talked about [what happened]. It's not a nice thing. If you're a captain, you're a symbol of a team. And people see you that way. I had the same experiences before in Brugge and I was there for 10 years like Tav. In the moments when it's really good, it's really nice to be captain and in moments when the team doesn't perform then it’s not - but it's not only about you. It's about the team and you don't reach the expectations of the fans at that moment. You're the first one that they talk to or that they yell to at that moment. So I had these moments also in my career. It's part of being captain. I have to say he takes it really maturely and he's very motivated to get really good results in the next couple of months and to get the love back of everybody in the club. The love from a lot of people is still there. Some people were very, very disappointed after the Celtic game which we can understand because we were also.

How important is it that he uses it as a motivational tool?

It's easy to run away from your responsibility which he doesn't do but he doesn't need it also to fuel him with motivation so it's somewhere in between, I think.

Was there any truth in reports linking him with a move away?

I don't know what is real about all these rumours. There were no offers to the club in that way.  In eight months, I've never seen a player making so many transfers because I read so many times that he was going to go there and there and there and he's still here and never came to my office saying 'I want to go.' There was never an offer in that way towards the club. So let's not talk too much about rumours. 

Are you surprised fans pick him out as being the problem in the team? 

It's a thing of society. It's not only a Rangers thing, it's in society. It's all over the world like that. The captain and the manager are the symbols of that and they get the most stick in those moments. That's part of our job and our life. Not only here but in a lot of teams in the world. Is it a nice thing? Is it a good thing? Is it a thing you love? No, totally not. But it's a world we live in.

Do you need to have real mental strength in these situations? 

Yes, but otherwise you're not ready to do that, to be a captain of a club. So that's also an important thing if people look for a captain because it's easy to be a captain in the moments that you win or when the club, everything goes really well, to be a symbol of that. The real captains are the ones who stand in front of the ship and to keep everything in a good way in the moment that it's difficult. So that's what he's been doing. He's been focusing on himself, on the team, training really hard. Playing in this Motherwell game also with the right mentality. Helping the new guys in their integration here and helping the young guys so I didn't see a difference in that way.

What backing have you had from the board this week?

We talked about everything. About the stadium, about the Celtic game, about where we are as a team now. It's the same support as the weeks before. The board knows it's the beginning of a totally new story. They understand that there are so many new players and so many players left and so many young players coming in who we need to grow in their potential. 

What has this start to the season done to your personal motivation levels? Has it made you more determined?

I was very determined when I stepped in and there's no difference in that way. I know the challenge is even much bigger than it was last season. That I know. But I chose that also. I had the choice to make in the summer to do that or not. I love it here. I love the challenge also. It's a massive challenge. But with all my body, my mind, with everything, I want to go for that.

How's Danilo and how long will he be out for?

Dani was the really unlucky one. He did in a sprint, he slipped in a really bad way. So we first thought it would be cruciate ligament, to be honest. The feeling we had at that moment and the way he fell down. It was a typical injury or a typical slip to carry a cruciate ligament. Luckily it's not the case. It's his medial ligament and the doctor said also that he was really lucky because of all the exercises he did before that the knee is now so strong that it compensated a lot but he will be out for at least four weeks. I will then respond to your second message about why he's not in the European list. Because we know already that he's out for his first game in Europe but also with the history of before. I want to bring him back in a good way so that's first with league games at that level. You cannot put him directly, after his injury, in European games, he's not ready for that. He was ready for some minutes like he did and he was growing in that way. He was happy then to take his goal against Ross County and he was in a positive way but he's not ready to play at European level at this moment. The plan with him is first half of the season to bring him back in the league games, in the cup games and then we can see after January he will be at his normal level again. But he needs his time to grow in that way.

He's had no luck at all, has he?

No, but the positive thing with him and the good thing is that he's a fighter so he doesn't give up. He's working again here with the physios, working hard but yeah, he had those moments. It doesn't mean that the next 10 years he's going to be injured a lot. You can have bad luck and this, the way he glided on the pitch and his foot went away just out of the duel, it's really unlucky. It can happen to everybody. And maybe he was lucky in the way that he had an injury before, with the cruciate ligament already, that everything was so strong. Otherwise, he would have had that injury for sure.

It's a bit of a cliché, but will he effectively be a new signing for Rangers when he is fit and ready to go?

Yes, at that moment, yes. But we need to focus now on the guys who are here, on the next game, and not to look in a few months to have a new signing. So I'm focused more on the now.

What's the situation with Ianis Hagi?

I said the things already the last times. The situation didn't change. It's not only my decision in that way. So we will see what the future will bring here.

Can you see that being a decision that would change? Is the door open?

No, I just said the situation didn't change for the moment, so there's no reason to go further into that.